Honda reveals 2026 WorldSBK Fireblade after preseason setback

The 2026 Honda WorldSBK bike has been revealed, the Japanese factory being the last in WorldSBK to show off its 2026 colours.

The HRC livery for this year’s World Superbike campaign is surprisingly dissimilar to what has been run since the company returned to the championship as a factory entry in 2019. Its traditional red and blue colours still adorn the fairing, but the red is much more prominent this year than in previous seasons.

It’s a season of change for Honda in terms of personnel, also. Yuji Mori takes over as team manager from Jose Escamez, and both sides of the garage have a new rider as Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra move over from the MotoGP paddock.

Dixon’s preseason ahead of his first WorldSBK season has been much smoother than Chantra’s, the Thai rider suffering arm injuries in a crash in Sepang in January that required surgery. He has missed both European tests in January and will be replaced by Tetsuta Nagashima at Phillip Island for the opening round.

While Dixon was able to make both tests, though, they were not the most useful as bad weather in both Jerez on 21–22 January and Portimao on 28–29 January meant almost all laps were done in wet conditions, and the best conditions available across both tests were, firstly, still patchy and, secondly, lasted only for a few hours on the second day of the Jerez test.

It means that Honda goes into the 2026 season with two inexperienced rookies on its factory bikes, both of whom have almost no testing time on the CBR1000RR-R.