The 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has been a trying campaign for the paddock’s Yamaha-powered machines. For the first time since 2016, no Yamaha-powered rider finished in the Riders’ Championship top ten. At the Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto, Andalucia, Pata Maxus Yamaha Team Principal Paul Denning spoke on what he feels went wrong for the Japanese manufacturer’s official team this season, and spoke about the work they’ve already begun to get back on the trail in 2027, including the role they expect from inbound MotoGP race winner, Jack Miller.
OPTIMISM AT THE CLOSE OF 2025
As the dust settled on the 2025 campaign, optimism filled the Pata Maxus Yamaha box. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) had finished fourth in the Championship standings on a run of strong form, bagging his first WorldSBK win at Assen, and a total of four podiums including one at home at Misano. He finished the season in the top five in 14 of the last 21 races over the final seven rounds.
With Xavi Vierge joining the team as Jonathan Rea announced his retirement, testing would be important not only to help the #97 acclimate, but to make gains with the Yamaha R1 platform in general. Clouds formed metaphorically and literally as private testing event after event saw heavy rainfall, preventing teams from performing critical dry laps to shake down their bikes. ‘Loka’ bagged a Race 2 P5 in the wet in the 2026 debut round, but as the season continued, top five results would emerge fewer and farther between.
“THE PLAN FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED IS TO AVOID THE BLAME GAME, UNDERSTAND WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER, AND TRY TO ACTIVATE THAT NEXT SEASON”
Frustratingly, it wasn’t that the team was going any slower; most of the competition had found a step. Independent Ducati Panigale V4 Rs littered the top eight, Bimota’s KB998 Rimini was smoother and more consistent in its sophomore year, and even the lone Kawasaki ZX-10RR Ninja showed improved performance. As the season continued, results continued to dry up for the #55 and #97, yet occasionally results would trickle in and remind the paddock of their capabilities, as with Locatelli’s P7 at Cremona and Vierge’s same-place finish at Estoril.
When asked about whether their season had gone to plan, Denning said during FP1: “If the season had gone to plan, it’s the worst plan I’ve ever seen; it would have been made on a very late night in a very poor state of health. No, it hasn’t gone to plan at all. We’ve suffered from a combination of the competition taking a bigger step than I’ve ever seen at any level of motorcycle competition from one year to the next, and clearly the series being dominated by one manufacturer. Both their factory and private teams. At the same time, we haven't achieved what we were aiming for in terms of the development path and improvements, and we haven't been able to take a big step forward. Together, those two factors have probably made this the toughest season we’ve had as a factory team in WorldSBK. Now, we have to learn the lessons from this year, make a big reset, and move forward positively. The plan for everyone involved is to avoid the blame game, understand what we could have done better, and try to activate that next season.”
“THERE’S NO QUESTION THAT HE BRINGS A LOT OF FIREPOWER TO THE TEAM; WE NEED TO GIVE HIM THAT COMPETITIVE PACKAGE”
Looking ahead to next season, Locatelli has proven he can get his results back on track over his six-year WorldSBK career, and he will be getting high-calibre reinforcements. MotoGP race winner Jack Miller will make the leap into the WorldSBK paddock in 2027. Denning and his squad are determined to give the Australian a platform to achieve his stated goal of winning a World Championship.
On the inbound Australian, and the work to prepare for him, Denning said: “Jack choosing to join us is a boost for the whole project; it puts good pressure. We have to give him a competitive package and support him well from a racing and operational side. There’s no question that he brings a lot of firepower and star power to the team; we need to give him that competitive package. He’ll be here for two seasons with us; I think it will be a step-by-step process to get back to the level we need to be. It will also depend on how next season's regulations balance performance across the different manufacturing philosophies. Right now, I think it's impossible to make any outlandish predictions beyond saying we'll do our very best.”
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