With the 2027 MotoGP rider line-up now practically complete, the manufacturers in the production-based World Superbike Championship have begun putting together their rosters for next season.
One of the first confirmations was Iker Lecuona's renewal as a factory Ducati rider in the series. The Italian manufacturer will lose its current spearhead, Nicolo Bulega, who will make his MotoGP debut next year with the VR46 Racing team in a contract directly signed with the factory.
With Lecuona secured, Ducati is now looking for a replacement to fill its second factory Panigale V4. One of the Italian team's primary targets was Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira, who made his WSBK debut this year with the factory BMW team, scoring four third-place finishes in 17 races. In addition to his undeniable quality and talent, Oliveira is a rider with significant appeal among fans, sponsors and media impact in Portugal.
However, the 31-year-old rider has prioritised continuing with the German manufacturer's project, and everything points to him staying for another season aboard the factory team's BMW M 1000 RR. The news, however, is who will pilot the other BMW, with Olivera's team-mate Danilo Petrucci not continuing next season.
As Motorsport.com has learned, BMW is at a very advanced stage in negotiations with the agency representing South African rider Brad Binder, Wasserman Group. It is the same company that secured a place for young talent David Alonso at Honda.
While waiting for all doors to officially close for Binder on the MotoGP grid, the South African is evaluating the possibility of continuing his sporting career in WSBK and, moreover, doing so with a factory bike from a manufacturer that is capable of offering attractive salaries.
Team-mates and winners at KTM
The curious aspect is that Oliveira and Binder would once again become team-mates in 2027, after representing the KTM brand together for three seasons - two of them, 2021 and 2022, as factory riders for the Austrian manufacturer.
In fact, Oliveira and Binder are the only riders in KTM's history to have taken victories in the premier class, with the Portuguese rider winning five times and the South African twice.
Oliveira made his MotoGP debut in 2019 with Tech3, KTM's satellite team, alongside Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin, before teaming up with Lecuona in 2020.
In his second season, he won the Styrian GP and his home race, the Portuguese GP, which earned him a promotion to the factory team in 2021 alongside Binder, taking victory that year at the Catalan GP.
In 2022, his final season with KTM, he won the Indonesian and Thai Grands Prix, the latter still standing as the Mattighofen manufacturer's most recent victory in the premier class.
Binder, for his part, claimed his first MotoGP victory in just his third race in the class, at the 2020 Czech GP, which was also the KTM's first win, before repeating the success the following year in Austria. The South African, who turns 31 in August, has now gone an astonishing 99 consecutive grands prix without a victory in MotoGP, and the last 51 without a podium finish - statistics that help explain why KTM has chosen not to keep him in its roster.
Four new faces
After losing Pedro Acosta, the only rider it wanted to retain, KTM took the decision to completely overhaul its line-up. Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio, arriving from Gresini and VR46 respectively, have already been confirmed at the factory MotoGP team. At Tech3, pending the official announcement, agreements have already been reached with Luca Marini and 21-year-old Australian rider Senna Agius, who currently races for the Intact Moto2 team.
With the arrival of those two riders, Enea Bastianini will leave for Trackhouse, while Maverick Vinales will be left without a bike for 2027, joining other leading riders such as Binder, Jack Miller, Alex Rins and Franco Morbidelli.
As for the last-named, the lawyers of Valentino Rossi's team, who are also Morbidelli's agents, are trying to convince Ducati for him to be Bulega's replacement in the WSBK team in a direct swap. This would allow the Italian-Brazilian rider's long career to be extended by at least one more season, as he enters his 14th season in the world championship, the last nine of them in the premier class.
