WorldSBK season over for Ducati rider as replacement confirmed
Tarran Mackenzie will not return to the WorldSBK grid in 2026 following his crash in practice at Donington in July.
The MGM Ducati team has confirmed Tarran Mackenzie’s replacement for the remainder of the 2026 WorldSBK season.
Mackenzie has been unable to ride in WorldSBK since he crashed in FP2 at the UK Round at Donington in July, sustaining multiple fractures including to his left leg.
The British rider attempted to make a comeback at the following round in France, two months after the UK Round which preceded the summer break. But he was declared unfit on the Thursday.
Mackenzie then did not attempt to ride at the next round in Italy, where he was replaced by WorldSBK race winner Loris Baz, who also had previous experience with the MGM team from when it was a satellite BMW outfit.
The German team has now confirmed that Baz will remain on its Ducati Panigale V4 R at the final two rounds of the season in Estoril and Jerez as Mackenzie is still not ready to come back.
“Following further checks that revealed Tarran Mackenzie is not primed for a return to action this weekend, he’ll have to sit out the season finale double header,” reads a statement from the team.
“Loris Baz will take over his Ducati Panigale V4 R in Estoril and Jerez. We keep wishing Tarran a speedy and full recovery!”
Mackenzie’s future is still not confirmed for 2027, although it had been expected that he would stay at the MGM team for next season. He first joined the team in the middle of 2025 after Scott Redding switched to BSB with the PBM team, and has gone on to take multiple top-sixes; indeed, his last result, in Race 2 at Misano, was a fifth.
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
