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)