BMW unveils 2026 WorldSBK challenger with refreshed livery

BMW has revealed its 2026 WorldSBK livery, with a reversion to an older look from previous years.

Historically, BMW’s colours have always been white, blue, and red, but more recently it has gone to a blacked-out look in its factory efforts, both in World Superbike and the Endurance World Championship.

This year sees a return to the white livery, while ROKiT stays on as title sponsor, in WorldSBK.

Other changes for this year, of course, include both riders, with Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael van der Mark out, and Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira in at the Bavarian brand.

For Oliveira in particular it will be a season of discovery, the Portuguese rider changing championships as well as team and bike as he moves across to WorldSBK after 14 seasons in the MotoGP paddock.

“I’m excited for sure,” Oliveira said.

“I don’t know really what to expect. I know it‘s going to be a difficult, competitive environment through the whole grid. 

“So my goal is to be up to that challenge and be as ready as I can to fight for top positions and make my adaptation as fast as possible, especially to have fun and to make the team enjoy the races.”

For Petrucci, the changes are fewer but after a production racing career solely with Ducati machinery the move to BMW is nonetheless a significant one for his fourth season of World Superbike.

“I’m so happy and proud to join the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team,” Petrucci said.

“It’s the team that has won the last championships and I’m so proud to be part of it. 

“I can’t wait to race with this bike. We did a few tests, and in rainy conditions the situation is really good. 

“We need to spend some time more in the dry because we didn’t have so much time in such conditions yet. 

“For sure there is a lot of expectation but mainly I want to enjoy. I don’t have any particular result in mind. I just want to be as fast as I can and improve the results of my previous season.”

BMW was due to host an in-person season launch event at Portimao today (27 January), but it was cancelled due to the bad weather in Portugal that has also seen the test planned for 28–29 January abandoned by BMW and Ducati. BMW has headed to Valencia, instead, as reported by GPOne.