2027 SILLY SEASON: Who is signed up, who’s moving and to where in WorldSBK?

Musical chairs, silly season… call it whatever you want, it’s here in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. Riders are starting to be confirmed for the 2027 season while there are others with contracts in place already, and rumours are starting to swirl as well. So, who’s going where for 2027?

ALREADY CONTRACTED

Several riders headed into 2026 with a contract for next season under their belt. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) signed a two-year deal when he signed his latest contract, while Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha), Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and teammate Remy Gardner all have contracts with Yamaha Motor Europe covering 2027.

SIGNED UP FOR 2027

Aside from the riders above who entered 2026 already with contracts for 2027, announcements have started about next year’s grid. At the Emilia-Romagna Round, the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team announced that Garrett Gerloff would remain with them heading into next season, becoming the first rider to be announced for next year outside those already contracted. Also at Misano, the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team confirmed that Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani would remain with the team in 2027. At World Ducati Week, the Barni Spark Racing Team announced Yari Montella would remain in place for 2027 – his fifth year with the team across WorldSSP and WorldSBK.

WHO’S NOT CONFIRMED?

Well, the easiest way to phrase this is: everyone else. Some high-profile riders were only announced for 2026, including factory riders like Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and teammate Iker Lecuona, Somkiat Chantra (Honda HRC) and his teammate, Jake Dixon, plus Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha). In terms of Independent riders, only Sam Lowes and Montella are confirmed. Once one domino falls, expect a few more to follow fairly quickly.

BULEGA’S FUTURE

Bulega’s leading the Championship after finishing as runner-up twice in WorldSBK, and the #11 has been linked with a move to MotoGP for 2027. He’s already signed up as a test rider for Ducati on the new 850cc, Pirelli-shod machines, and ‘Bulegas’ has discussed his future multiple times. While he hasn’t given detailed answers, he said after Aragon that he is in talks, and ahead of Misano that he has news but couldn’t share it. Seats and bombshell moves have started to be announced in MotoGP for next season, so it’s just a waiting game to see who’s going where, and the knock-on effect that could have.

RUMOURS BEGIN SPREADING…

Of course, as seats get filled and others lose their spot, rumours begin to fly. Alex Rins confirmed earlier this year that he would not stay with Monster Energy Yamaha Racing in MotoGP and, at the German GP, said he was looking for something in WorldSBK. At BMW, the German manufacturer, as of the UK Round, have not yet taken up their options on either Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) or teammate Danilo Petrucci and Team Principal Shaun Muir spoke in Free Practice 1 at Donington Park about the reasoning behind that. For their part, Petrucci said he was happy to stay with BMW while Oliveira admitted he was “looking around”.

Confirmed 2027 grid

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