End of the road? MotoGP winner's future uncertain as major WorldSBK news confirmed

Danilo Petrucci has confirmed he will not be a factory BMW WorldSBK rider in 2027.

03 Sep 2026

Danilo Petrucci sits in the BMW pit box at the 2026 UK WorldSBK.

Danilo Petrucci will no longer be a full-time BMW factory rider in the 2027 WorldSBK season, he has confirmed.

Petrucci joined BMW this year as a three-time WorldSBK race winner with Barni Ducati, those three coming at Cremona in 2024 when he achieved an unlikely treble.

The Italian has struggled in general this year with the M1000 RR, taking a best dry result of seventh in Race 2 at Portimao and in the Superpole Race at Assen.

He was also injured at the Czech Round in May, missing the following two rounds through injury before returning at Donington Park, where he was 15th in the two long races.

Danilo Petrucci, 2026 UK WorldSBK. Credit: Tony Goldsmith.

Petrucci entered the Donington weekend with questions already over his future, as BMW had elected not to exercise its option to keep him on his current contract.

The same was true for Miguel Oliveira, whose BMW renewal for 2027 was confirmed today, but for Petrucci the news is the opposite, by “mutual decision”, he says.

“We decided, both me and BMW, to not continue in WorldSBK next year,” said Danilo Petrucci, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“We would both like to continue together in maybe some other position or championships, but it’s still too early to know.

“The only thing we know is that we will not continue together.

“It was a mutual decision. We both gave our best and this led us to say we can’t continue together.”

Petrucci added that he is not necessarily considering many options outside of BMW to keep him in WorldSBK as a full-time rider.

“Honestly, I’m not looking around so much,” he said.

“I want to give the priority to BMW because they helped me so much and I want to understand what their programme is. It’s hard to not race here, but who knows? Maybe in the future.”

Petrucci's words cast doubt over his future in WorldSBK. The former MotoGP winner was in a strong position last year, when he was in contention for third in the championship with Ducati, but this year has been more difficult and the seats at factory teams are also being sought by riders being left out of MotoGP, such as Brad Binder who is thought to be in talks with BMW.