Can Oncu will make the switch to Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing for the 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship campaign after a stellar first season on the Yamaha R9. The #61 finished second in the standings behind Stefano Manzi, whose seat Oncu has filled after the 2025 Champion secured a move to WorldSBK with the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team. Oncu will aim to replicate Manzi’s success at the Dutch team, who head into the 2026 campaign looking to defend their title.

Oncu made a name for himself as a Moto3 wildcard at the 2018 Valencian Grand Prix, becoming the youngest ever Grand Prix winner with a stunning victory which came off the back of a Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup win in the same year. In 2019, he raced full-time in Moto3, but was unable to replicate the same success so moved to the WorldSBK paddock and joined the WorldSSP field in 2020.

The Turkish rider often showed flashes of brilliance in his early WorldSSP days but he was unable to string together a consistent campaign in the first two seasons. He finished 12^th in 2020 and sixth in 2021, aided by taking his first podiums at Magny-Cours and a double at San Juan in Argentina. 2022 was his best campaign on the Kawasaki ZX-6R machine as he finished in third and rarely outside of the top five.

The following year, a big crash at Assen left the #61 with arm injuries that required surgery to fix nerve damage. He made his return at Magny-Cours after missing five rounds, and secured only one top-ten finish in his return – a podium in a shortened Jerez race. However, in the same year, he took his maiden win at Mandalika. 2024 was another tough year without a rostrum finish, but a move to Yamaha re-ignited his career.

Linking up with the Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team, Oncu took six victories and 16 rostrums on his way to finishing second in the standings, behind Manzi. He put together a run of eight consecutive podiums between Donington Race 2 and Estoril Race 1 as his potential was unleashed once again, and he now has a chance to keep that form going head into 2026 as he remains on the Yamaha R9 but moves to the defending Champion’s seat.

Discussing his move to Ten Kate Racing, Oncu said: “I am so happy to join Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing and stay with Yamaha in 2026. I had a good year with the R9 this year, but the target is to achieve one place higher in the standings and I think with the Ten Kate team we can make a step forward. The team has had a lot of success in World Supersport in the past, including with Kenan Sofuoglu, so I am excited to start the new chapter. I will push hard for many podiums, and the aim is to fight for the title. Thank you to Yamaha for this incredible opportunity.”

Niccolo Canepa, Road Racing Sporting Manager in the Motorsport Division at Yamaha Motor Europe, added: “Since joining Yamaha at the start of the season, Can has shown incredible speed with the R9 and while some inconsistency hampered his Championship attack, we believe this is something he can build on in 2026 and the partnership with the vastly experienced Pata Yamaha Ten Kate team will help with this. Ten Kate are the most successful team in World Supersport history, and with Can they have one of the fastest and most promising young talents in the category. Over the past three seasons, we saw how the Ten Kate team nurtured Stefano Manzi into a World Champion, so hopefully we can see a similar story with Can.”

Watch some of Oncu’s best moments from his WorldSSP career using the WorldSBK VideoPass!