One of the biggest revelations of the 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship season has been ZXMOTO's meteoric rise in its first season of WorldSSP competition. At the 2026 edition of EICMA, the team and their riders Valentin Debise and Federico Caricasulo reflected on their manufacturer’s breakout maiden campaign. The team also gave tantalising details about the new ZXMOTO 820 RR-R, which they hope to homologate, and expanded on their aspirations for their sophomore 2027 season.

ZXMOTO hopes to unveil its three-cylinder 820 RR-R, provided it can homologate it in 2027. The new platform is a marked step up from their 2026 820RR, and that extra firepower may be just what they need after a maiden season that delivered more success than the team had anticipated, from the manufacturer’s CEO Zhang Xue, to their top rider in 2026, Valentin Debise.

“THE SPEED OF THE EVOLUTION WAS CRAZY”

Valentin Debise and the ZXMOTO 820RR looked like a match made in heaven in 2026. The French rider had bagged two wins and 14 podiums across his prior three full seasons in the class, but he showed another gear in 2026, leading the category in wins in the season with six, as well as bagging rostrum results in nine races. He and his team are looking to improve on his consistency with the package, and with a full season’s worth of data in their back pocket.

On 2026 and looking ahead to fighting for the title in 2027, Debise said: “The team’s objective was to finish in the top 15, but as soon as I rode the bike, I felt the potential. We tested it in Spain, and at the end, I said to the team, I think I can do something at Phillip Island and they laughed. Phillip Island was more difficult in the end, but after more testing, I applied that speed at Portimao, and we got the first two wins. The speed of the evolution was crazy. As a rider, I’m a bit sad we didn’t win the Championship because I thought we could do it, but already second place is great. I’m hungry for more next year, and we have the new bike, so I’m excited. For sure, the goal is to win the Championship, it’s all we can think of. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do but the Championship is for sure the goal. For us, the final round in Shanghai is the best thing ever. With all of the Chinese fans we had this year, I think a round there is the right thing to do.”

“MY GOAL IS TO BE IN THE TOP FIVE, FIGHTING IN THE FRONT GROUP”

Caricasulo didn’t quite find the same stunning pace in his first season with the team, but the Italian has patented pace and experience in the class. He showed it at Magny-Cours, where he was the latter part of the manufacturer’s first Tissot Superpole 1-2 and took his best result of the campaign in Race 1 in P5. He looks forward to working with the bike this winter and the opportunity to extract the maximum from the ZXMOTO package.

On the step he hopes to take for next season, Caricasulo said: “I need to make the step I needed this year during this winter to fight for the top positions. 2026 was difficult because early on, the bike had characteristics that weren’t perfect for my riding style. We worked throughout the season, things got better and better. With work this winter, we can fight at the top in the first races next season. My goal is to be in the top five, fighting in the front group, and being much closer to Valentin than I was this year. It will be crazy racing in China. It’s crazy to see how many Chinese fans are in attendance at the European races, so I can’t imagine how many will be in the grandstands at Shanghai.”

“THE KEY TO OUR SUCCESS HAS BEEN TWO WORDS: EXTREME PATIENCE. THIS MUTUAL PATIENCE MAKES THE RELATIONSHIP VERY STRONG”

Looking back on 2026 and looking ahead to 2027, Team Manager Fabio Evangelista said: “We absolutely did not anticipate such success in 2026. It was a tough challenge one year ago, and we are obviously very happy and proud to have achieved such success. Next year, we need to work very hard; the only thing better than second is first. It’s not simple to win the Championship, but our goal with Zhang Xue is to win a Championship by 2028. The key to our success so far has been two words: extreme patience. This mutual patience makes the relationship between both parties very strong. I’m looking forward to the final round in China, I hope we can be Champions there.”

“FOR NEXT YEAR WE WANT TO HOMOLOGATE THE RR-R, THIS IS A SPEC UP FROM THE 2026 820RR”

ZXMOTO Racing Director Jesus Rincon spoke on the new 820RR-R model, he said: “The success was a surprise to everyone. We expected to do well, but not as well as we did. We partnered with a really good team, with great people working every day. Our best achievement in the season was to win both races as early as Round 2. For next year we want to homologate and move forward with the RR-R homologation, this bike is a spec up from the current version from 2026, the RR. From our side, we will be ready for WorldSBK in 2028, it won’t depend on us. We will be ready to join in case we can.”

“WE WANT TO BECOME CHAMPIONS IN ALL THREE CATEGORIES AND THE WORLD’S TOP MOTORCYCLE BRAND BY 2035”

ZXMOTO Founder Zhang Xue added: “The first thing is that the brand and other Chinese brands are becoming known as good brands. Secondly, we are gaining the confidence of both the Chinese and global markets. For the future, we want to have a homologation ready to compete in WorldSBK in 2028. It would be the perfect time for us. We want to become Champions in all three categories and be the world’s top motorcycle brand by 2035.”

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