BMW has picked a MotoGP race winner to replace its MotoGP-bound reigning World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu in its factory team for 2026, with Danilo Petrucci getting the nod.
Petrucci will step up from satellite Ducati team Barni Racing as Razgatlioglu heads to Petrucci’s former MotoGP team Pramac.
Petrucci answers your questions in an exclusive podcast for The Race Members' Club on Patreon today - join now and get 90% off your first month
“I’m really happy to join BMW Motorrad Motorsport for the next season in World Superbikes and proud that I will ride the bike that currently bears the number one,” said Petrucci.
“It was my target to ride a factory bike because I really want to fight for the world championship title.
“So I think that this is the step that I needed to get in the position to achieve that goal.”
The news comes as no real surprise given weeks of paddock speculation linking the Italian to BMW, and comes amid something of a spending spree from BMW as it offered MotoGP-level salaries to a host of top talent as it tries to defend its crown when Razgatlioglu leaves.
Petrucci is a solid signing for BMW, given what we've so far seen from his performances in World Superbikes since moving from MotoGP. A regular podium contender on Ducati satellite machinery and now routinely the third man behind Bulega and Razgatlioglu (something reflected by his current third place in the standings), he's the natural choice to step up and replace the series’ benchmark.
More than just performance, though, his time in MotoGP means that he's more than well versed in bike development, something that's been largely wasted so far on a customer-spec machine at Barni. He'll bring not just performance but R&D skills to the BMW project, a factor that might well be enough to continue its dominance of the series even against a resurgent Ducati in the hands of Bulega.
Those offers are believed to have even entailed an approach to 2025 MotoGP podium finisher Maverick Vinales in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to lure him away from Tech3 KTM.
And it seems BMW isn’t finished with targeting talent from the grand prix paddock, with rumours persisting that it’s also keen to secure the services of current Moto2 title contender Aron Canet to join Petrucci and to replace Michael van der Mark on its second machine.
Canet has spoken openly in recent weeks about the lure of a switch to World Superbikes, but stressed he was still very much weighing up his options.
"Finally the objective for every rider is to go to MotoGP,” he replied when asked by The Race about his WSBK opportunities recently, “but I did big results in Moto2 and I never received a MotoGP contract.
“Maybe it's time to change to Superbikes - or to be in Moto2 two-three years more fighting for titles.
"I now have two opinions: to go to Superbikes to be there 10-12 years, being world champion, fighting for titles every year. Or being in Moto2 three-four years more, being the riders with the most titles in history.
"So now I don't know. But it's true that I have some proposals from Superbikes."
Petrucci signing with BMW means he won’t take the factory Ducati vacancy alongside Niccolo Bulega made available by it parting with its double champion Alvaro Bautista.
That may mean there’s a bidding war between Ducati and BMW for Canet’s services should he decide to make the move to World Superbikes instead of remaining in Moto2.
There’s also a factory seat open at Yamaha, with six-time champion Jonathan Rea linked to a move to replace Petrucci at Barni Racing.
And that Yamaha seat that could well be the natural landing place for whichever of Yamaha’s current satellite MotoGP racers (Jack Miller or Miguel Oliveria) is displaced by Razgatlioglu’s arrival in the premier class.
