BMW WorldSBK boss teases Danilo Petrucci’s “overseas” future

Danilo Petrucci’s WorldSBK career looks to be approaching its conclusion, but the Italian could continue racing in a national championship.

Petrucci joined BMW for the 2026 WorldSBK season after three years at Barni Ducati, where he was three times a winner at Cremona in 2024.

With BMW things have been tough for the Italian, who scored only a single top-six finish aboard the M1000 RR before a crash at Most took him out of multiple rounds over the summer. 

On his return at Donington, things remained difficult, Petrucci scoring only one point in the UK Round, while at Magny-Cours he was unable to crack the top-10, and on Friday at the Italian Round he ended FP2 almost two seconds off the pace of Iker Lecuona at the top of the times.

Petrucci’s future seems to be coming closer to being decided, though, and BMW’s factory WorldSBK team principal Shaun Muir has indicated that Petrucci could remain with BMW in 2027 but in a non-European national championship.

“He’ll be in a good position, Danilo [Petrucci] – he’s in a good area, his future is kind of decided, almost, now,” Muir said when discussing Petrucci’s prospects for the Italian WorldSBK during FP1 at Cremona.

“We’ve got some ideas [for Petrucci’s future], we want to keep him in the group. 

“There may be an opportunity overseas in one of the national series.”

BMW has previously had Markus Reiterberger race in the Asia Road Racing Championship, the German rider winning the ASB1000 title there in 2023 on an M1000 RR Superbike.

Reiterberger had gone there after some difficult years with BMW in WorldSBK but also successful ones in Superstock and the German championship. 

He’s now – alongside Michael van der Mark and Steven Odendaal – become Endurance World Champion with BMW’s factory EWC team, when it won the Bol d’Or last weekend to take the title from YART Yamaha.