The 2026 WorldSBK season spans 12 rounds, opening at Phillip Island in Australia in February and closing at Jerez in Spain in October.
The headline storyline is a wide-open championship. For the first time in 13 years, the grid features no reigning champion: Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, who won the 2025 title, has moved up to MotoGP for 2026. With the most recent champion gone, the crown is there for the taking, and the title fight is expected to be one of the most open in years.
There is also a change lower down the ladder. Alongside the established WorldSSP middleweight class, 2026 introduces a new entry-level Sportbike World Championship, broadening the racing on a typical WorldSBK weekend and adding another rung to the junior ladder.