New bike, high 2026 WorldSBK expectations for Kawasaki: “We need to be in the top 5”

Manuel Puccetti is expecting a substantial step forward in WorldSBK results to come from the updated Kawasaki ZX-10RR next year.

The 2025 World Superbike season was a tough one for Puccetti’s team, renamed Kawasaki WorldSBK Team this year as it took on official Kawasaki status as a result of the new Akashi-supported Bimota project. New signing Garrett Gerloff finished only once inside the top-six and spent much of the second half of the year struggling to crack the top-10 after more promising summer spell.

An updated version of the ZX-10RR is coming for next year, though, which Gerloff himself has confessed his own hopes for.

For Puccetti himself, it’s a bike that should be “a very good step ahead”.

“We touched already the bike a few weeks ago in Jerez with Garrett Gerloff,” Manuel Puccetti told WorldSBK.com at EICMA.

“We are happy. Many updates, not only aerodynamics and front fairing but also many other parts: suspension, engine, chassis, many other things on the standard bike. For sure, more will come on the new [race bike]. 

“So, I think, in general it will be a very good step ahead, and I believe it will be exactly what we need to do another step for the championship result next year for Superbike.”

He added that he feels his team needs to be contending for top-five results next year: “We need to improve the result of this year, 100 per cent.

“So, this year we was often in the top-10, one time in the top-six. 

“We need to be more inside the top-five – this is what we believe we can achieve. We will do our best and I think we will be often in this area.”