Why Miguel Oliveira thinks Brad Binder is perfect for BMW in WorldSBK 2027

Brad Binder has been described as “exactly what we need” at BMW in 2027 by his future WorldSBK team-mate Miguel Oliveira.

Binder and Oliveira are already fairly familiar with each other, having been team-mates at all three levels of the MotoGP paddock, including at the factory KTM team in 2021 and 2022.

It proved a winning partnership for KTM – indeed, Oliveira’s 2022 win in Thailand was the Austrian factory’s most recent in the premier class before Pedro Acosta win in Spielberg last weekend.

That winning feeling is what BMW is looking to revive for itself in 2027 after being dominated by Ducati – like every other manufacturer in WorldSBK – this season, and Oliveira thinks Binder’s personality and mindset are perfect for where the Bavarian brand is going into next year.

“Brad [Binder] is a very competitive rider, he has a lot to show and give,” said Miguel Oliveira, speaking to WorldSBK.com ahead of the Italian WorldSBK.

“That’s exactly what we also need in the garage, is that positive mindset, attitude, even when the times are hard, to just make the bike in a good place. 

“I think Brad is a good candidate to do that. 

“Hopefully we will still get along as we still did in the past, and build a good team environment and push the whole project forward.”

Rebounding after “challenging” Magny-Cours

Although Oliveira is happy with BMW’s choice of rider as his team-mate for 2027, the performance at the most recent round was cause for concern for BMW, who were never in contention for the top-10 at Magny-Cours, where they had won all three races in 2025 with Toprak Razgatlioglu.

BMW had also tested there before the race weekend, as they did at Donington where they went on to be outside the top-10 as well.

Ahead of the upcoming round in Cremona, Oliveira was uncertain whether the team had been able to identify why the Magny-Cours round was so tough for the M1000 RR.

“We came here [Cremona] with a positive attitude and mindset after the tough weekend we had in Magny-Cours,” he said.

“That’s the only approach we can have.

“The challenge is to extract the best out of the package and see where that places in the field. I don’t set up any specific goals for the weekend, but want to start working in a good way from FP1 and hopefully we can find a good package to continue the weekend.”

He added: “We have an idea of why it [Magny-Cours] was challenging, but it’s quite hard now to confirm that because we don’t have that many opportunities, that many races, that we can just go back-to-back and try a few things.

“So, hopefully we’ve done our homework well and we have a competitive bike from FP1.”