Phillip Island. The debut was a success: At the season opener of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in Phillip Island, Australia, Miguel Oliveira (POR) and Danilo Petrucci (ITA) contested their first race weekend on their BMW M 1000 RRs of the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team. Both impressed with strong race pace and secured valuable early championship points with solid finishes near the front of the field. After a positive Saturday, they stepped it up further on Sunday when Petrucci and Oliveira concluded the race weekend with sixth and seventh places respectively in the second main race.
Petrucci secured a solid starting position for the races at the iconic Australian circuit by qualifying sixth in Saturday’s Superpole session. He finished tenth in both the first main race and the Superpole Race. In Sunday’s second main race, he advanced to sixth place in wet conditions aboard his #9 BMW M 1000 RR.
Oliveira thrilled the more than 47,000 fans at the track in all three races with fantastic comeback rides with his #88 BMW M 1000 RR. After crashing in Superpole, he had to start from 21st place each time. In the first race, he gained 13 positions to finish eighth. In the short Superpole Race, he fought his way up to an important ninth place before dropping back on the final lap due to problems with the quickshifter. In Sunday’s second race, Oliveira charged forward by 14 positions to finish seventh, directly behind Petrucci.
The WorldSBK now returns to Europe. The second round of the season will take place from 27th to 29th March at Portimão (POR). Prior to that, the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team will conduct another test at the same venue.
Reactions after the Phillip Island season opener.
Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport: “After the week here in Phillip Island, we are super happy. It was a short and rainy winter, and within this week in Australia we were able to learn an incredible amount. We improved day by day, and both riders pushed each other. We also saw how quickly everything is coming together in terms of team spirit. We are very satisfied. Danilo and Miguel are both very fast riders, but also incredibly great characters who fit perfectly into our team. Something big is really coming together for us right now. A big thank you also goes to everyone back home in Berlin, Munich, and Great Britain who supported us throughout the entire winter. It’s not just the people at the track – it’s a very large team that developed the bikes over the winter. The weekend here was demanding and challenging, with sometimes difficult conditions, but with our top ten results and finishing sixth and seventh in the final race, we can be more than satisfied. Now we’re already looking forward to the first European round at Portimão, a home race for Miguel. We’re on the right track and want to build on what we’ve achieved there.”
Christian Gonschor, Technical Director BMW Motorrad Motorsport: “Phillip Island is worth the trip every year, with many, many highlights but of course also a few lowlights that ultimately cost us valuable points. The key message we take away is that we improved in every single session, from the start of testing on Monday through to qualifying, which was impressively demonstrated by Danilo’s P6 qualifying lap on the most difficult track for us in the calendar. Miguel’s crash in qualifying deprived him of a better opportunity for strong race results, but across the three races he probably set a new record for the most overtakes in a single race weekend. Both riders delivered outstanding fighting performances here at Phillip Island, both in the dry main race on Saturday and in the rain on Sunday. Sixth place for Danilo and seventh for Miguel in the second main race was a great result for BMW Motorrad Motorsport. We scored more points here at Phillip Island than in the past two years. That provides a very solid foundation for the remainder of the long season. Now we are looking forward to the European circuits, which suit our BMW M 1000 RR even better and therefore offer even greater potential for the riders.”
Miguel Oliveira, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “The weekend was a progression, for sure. It was just a shame that the qualifying dictated most of the outcome of the weekend. We made three really good comebacks, especially this morning in the Superpole Race with getting into P9 but then a small problem in the quick shifter prevented a better starting position for me for race two. But this afternoon we got another chance to go for points and I did that. Making the comeback from last in these fully wet conditions was probably the hardest thing I had to do because the visibility was so poor and the conditions were tricky. But we managed to to stay on the bike which was already an accomplishment in itself due to the conditions and then finishing in P7, really close to Danilo, we have to be to be happy about it. At least we scored some points in both races. It‘s for sure not the place that we want to be but given the circumstances we took the most out of it. We definitely go to Portimao with our heads held up high because we did a good job getting better with the bike and we still have two extra days there before the race. I‘m sure we‘ll show much more competitiveness there.”
Danilo Petrucci, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “Finally, we had our first race weekend. We knew it would be tough because of not much testing this winter, so we mainly started to work on the bike last Monday during the test here. I set my target to be into the top ten and we always achieved that. We are aiming for more but I can be happy. Especially because race two today was really difficult in regards of visibility and the lack of grip but we managed to stay up to finish in sixth place to score a bit of points. I must say that I feel really confident about the future because I‘m working really well with my team and my crew, so this makes me happy. I can‘t wait to ride the bike again at Portimao.”
Facts and figures.
Superpole.
Air temperature: 21°, track temperature: 42°, humidity: 66%, conditions: dry.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Time |
| 1. | Nicolò Bulega (ITA) | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | Ducati | 1:28.244 |
| 2. | Yari Montella (ITA) | Barni Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 1:28.663 |
| 3. | Sam Lowes (GBR) | ELF Marc VDS Racing Team | Ducati | 1:28.729 |
| 4. | Alex Lowes (GBR) | bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | bimota | 1:28.943 |
| 5. | Sam Lowes (GBR) | bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | bimota | 1:28.972 |
| 6. | Danilo Petrucci ITA) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 1:29.049 |
| DNQ | Miguel Oliveira (POR) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | – |
Race 1.
Air temperature: 21°, track temperature: 42°, humidity: 70%, conditions: dry, laps: 22.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Gap |
| 1. | Nicolò Bulega (ITA) | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | Ducati | – |
| 2. | Yari Montella (ITA) | Barni Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 4,776 |
| 3. | Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) | Team Goeleven | Ducati | 6,147 |
| 4. | Axel Bassani (ITA) | bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | bimota | 6,183 |
| 5. | Sam Lowes (GBR) | ELF Marc VDS Racing Team | Ducati | 8,249 |
| 8. | Miguel Oliveira (POR) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 20,610 |
| 10. | Danilo Petrucci (ITA) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 22,250 |
Fastest race lap: Nicolò Bulega, lap 2, 1:29.168
Superpole Race.
Air temperature: 26°, track temperature: 27°, humidity: 48%, conditions: dry, laps: 10.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Gap |
| 1. | Nicolò Bulega (ITA) | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | Ducati | – |
| 2. | Axel Bassani (ITA) | bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | bimota | 2.752 |
| 3. | Alex Lowes (GBR) | bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | bimota | 3.563 |
| 4. | Yari Montella (ITA) | Barni Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 3.585 |
| 5. | Sam Lowes (GBR) | ELF Marc VDS Racing Team | Ducati | 3.985 |
| 10. | Danilo Petrucci (ITA) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 9.512 |
| 18. | Miguel Oliveira (POR) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 19.207 |
Fastest race lap: Nicolò Bulega, lap 7, 1:28.688
Race 2.
Air temperature: 21°, track temperature: 21°, humidity: 82%, conditions: wet, laps: 22.
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Gap |
| 1. | Nicolò Bulega (ITA) | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | Ducati | – |
| 2. | Axel Bassani (ITA) | bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | bimota | 11.336 |
| 3. | Álvaro Bautista (ESP) | Barni Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 17.790 |
| 4. | Tarran Mackenzie (GBR) | MGM Optical Express Racing | Ducati | 28.356 |
| 5. | Andrea Locatelli (ITA) | Pata Maxus Yamaha | Yamaha | 30.966 |
| 6. | Danilo Petrucci (ITA) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 31.901 |
| 7. | Miguel Oliveira (POR) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 32.135 |
Fastest race lap: Nicolò Bulega, lap 6, 1:40.406
Current riders’ classification (R01/12, after 3 of 36 races).
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1. | Nicolò Bulega (ITA) | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | Ducati | 62 |
| 2. | Axel Bassani (ITA) | bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | bimota | 42 (-20) |
| 3. | Yari Montella (ITA) | Barni Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 26 (-36) |
| 4. | Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) | Team Goeleven | Ducati | 25 (-37) |
| 5. | Álvaro Bautista (ESP) | Barni Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 19 (-43) |
| 8. | Miguel Oliveira (POR) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 17 (-45) |
| 10. | Danilo Petrucci (ITA) | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 16 (-46) |
Current manufacturers’ classification (R01/12, after 3 of 36 races).
| Pos. | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1. | Ducati | 62 |
| 2. | Bimota | 42 (-20) |
| 3. | BMW | 18 (-44) |
| 4. | Kawasaki | 15 (-47) |
| 5. | Yamaha | 14 (-48) |
| 6. | Honda | 7 (-55) |
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