Ex-WorldSSP champion team partners with Chinese manufacturer after Yamaha split

A new Chinese manufacturer is due to enter the World Supersport Championship in 2026 in partnership with the Evan Bros team.

The Italian outfit, originally in the World Championship with Honda, became World Supersport Champion in 2019 for the first time with Randy Krummenacher and developed a long-standing partnership with Yamaha.

On 3 November the team announced it was leaving the Yamaha stable after one year with the Iwata marque’s R9, with which it finished second in the standings with Can Oncu behind Ten Kate’s Stefano Manzi who steps up to World Superbike in 2026.

While Oncu will stay with Yamaha, though, he will move to Ten Kate, as Evan Bros switches from Yamaha to ZXMoto, a Chinese manufacturer completely new to World Championship racing.

The Italian-Chinese union will make use of the manufacturer’s three-cylinder, 819cc 820RR-R machine which, in its standard form, produces 145bhp, although this of course would be subject to alteration by the Supersport class’ performance balancing rules.

Riding the bike will be Federico Caricasulo and Valentin Debise, both of whom have race-winning pedigree in WorldSSP and who have had stints at Evan Bros in the past; Debise spending 2024 there, while Caricasulo was there from 2014–16 and in 2019 as well.

“I am very happy about this new adventure,” said Team Principal Fabio Evangelista.

“We have taken on the challenge of collaborating with ZXMoto to develop a new bike, which undoubtedly has potential. 

“As for Caricasulo and Debise, I can only say welcome back: we believe in the speed and development capabilities of both of them.”

ZXMoto will be the third manufacturer from to participate at FIM World Championship level after CFMoto, albeit in the Moto3 class with rebadged KTMs, and Kove, which won its and China’s first World Championship title with Benat Fernandez in this year’s WorldSSP300 Championship.