WorldSBK 2026 “difficulties” leave Ryan Vickers' future “up in the air”

Despite what he feels has been a “great” rookie season, Ryan Vickers is on the edge of losing his WorldSBK seat in 2026.

Vickers was understood to have signed a two-year contract with the Motocorsa Ducati team for the 2025 and 2026 season after an impressive 2024 BSB campaign that saw him take victory on seven occasions.

However, the British rider says that “difficulties” have arisen over the course of this season that mean his World Superbike future is now “up in the air”.

“There’s been some difficulties and definitely some discussions that have changed some things slightly, but things are still up in the air,” Ryan Vickers told WorldSBK.com ahead of the penultimate round of 2025 in Estoril.

“Obviously, in this situation, you have to look at other options. We hope that we can announce some things in the coming days.”

It is nonetheless Vickers’ target to stay in World Superbike for a second season in 2026.

“It would be my ambition to continue in World Superbike,” he said.

“I’ve come here for a year and it would be great to continue. But things are up in the air and we’ve got to see how things pan out in the next few days.”

The British rider feels he has shown that he has potential at World Championship level this year, especially with performances like those he put in at Donington where he was able to battle for top-10 positions.

“We’ve shown at times this year that we can battle comfortably inside the top-10 at tracks that we have little experience at, and quite a lot of experience at – at Donington we had some really good results,” he said.

“So, it’s one of those things. 

“You definitely perform better coming into a second year of World Superbike, you need it, the level is so high and the bikes are very different to what I was used to so it takes some adaptation. 

“But I feel like for a rookie year we’ve had a great season so far and been relatively consistent, so let’s see.”