SBK 2027: the influx of MotoGP riders becomes a problem

Wednesday, 26 August 2026 at 19:15

Superbike 2027 will see at least three riders on the grid who are currently racing in MotoGP. The arrival of Franco Morbidelli at Ducati, Brad Binder on BMW, and Jack Miller at Yamaha rekindles hopes and attention. But in the meantime, a real problem is looming...

Based on the official winter testing schedule already confirmed by the teams, the three riders in question won’t be able to test before January. The testing plan closely mirrors previous years. There will be an initial outing at Jerez a few days after the final round of the current World Championship, which wraps up at Jerez on October 17-18. Another two-day test is set for the same Andalusian track at the end of November, on the 25th-26th. In the first instance, Morbidelli, Binder, and Miller will be busy with MotoGP at Phillip Island, Australia. In the second, they’ll be in Valencia for the final stop of their top-class stint—for now.

Contracts have nothing to do with it

So in this case, there are no contractual constraints at play, unlike in 2024 when Toprak Razgatlioglu’s BMW debut was postponed due to his pending contract with Yamaha. Among other things, Morbidelli isn’t changing manufacturer, and his move to Superbike with the factory Aruba team is the result of the complex strategies that brought Nicolò Bulega to the top class with VR46 and full technical support from the racing department. The same goes for Jack Miller, who until November is a Pramac Yamaha rider and therefore wouldn’t be switching manufacturers either. Binder could also be easily cleared, since KTM is not involved in Superbike, so there’s no competition with BMW. It’s simply a matter of dates.

Is there a solution?

On paper, yes: the three teams are evaluating whether it’s possible to add extra sessions. But it’s a complicated task because you have to consider track availability and the commitments of MotoGP riders, who from mid-October to November are involved in five back-to-back rounds. There are also technical and regulatory issues. In 2027, several innovations will be introduced that will force the racing departments into a lengthy adaptation process. We’re talking, in particular, about the adoption of fuel supplied by a single brand, and the reintroduction of the rev limiter, which will work in tandem with the fuel-flow meter, the device that limits fuel availability.

A last-minute debut

Morbidelli, Binder, and Miller could therefore have little time to prepare for the Superbike World Championship debut scheduled for the weekend of February 19-21, 2027 at Phillip Island. Unless some stopgap solution is devised, they will only have the Jerez and Portimao outings available—four days in total at the end of January. Hoping, of course, that we don’t see a repeat of the recent fiasco, when bad weather hampered virtually all test days between November and January. While they wait for the real on-track battles to begin, Frankie, Brad, and Jack already have something to worry about.