Hannes Soomer is left empty-handed after the IDM and EWC seasons

If you’d taken a look at the entry list at the start of the 2026 Euro Moto Superbike season, there’s no doubt that one or two people would have bet a euro or more on Hannes Soomer to win the title. The rider from the Masteroil-alpha-BMW-Van Zon-BMW team could certainly have been counted amongst the wider circle of title contenders. However, the Estonian had a tough year in every respect, with the sobering result that he now finds himself without a ride for the coming year.

At the season opener at the Sachsenring, things got off to a reasonably good start with fourth and third places. Although, right from the first race, the gap in lap times to the eventual champion, Lukas Tulovic, was already noticeable. Soomer was absent from the second Euro Moto weekend in Brno. He had answered BMW’s call and stepped in for the injured Danilo Petrucci at the Superbike World Championship round in Spain. “The World Championship outing is simply a great opportunity for me. Something like that doesn’t come along very often. It’s currently difficult to win in Euro Moto,” said Soomer at the time, explaining his decision to take the World Championship gamble.

The WorldSBK adventure was a one-off

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, Soomer now sees his World Championship stint in a different light. “If you’re given the chance to compete in the World Championship, then you go for it,” Soomer explains now, “at least that’s how I saw it at the time. Given what I knew back then, I’d make the same decision again. But with the experience I have today, I might well turn down the offer.” In the Superpole race, Soomer finished 15th; in Races 1 and 2, he crashed on both occasions, though he was at least able to finish Race 2. And with that, the World Championship adventure was already over.

He returned to Euro Moto, where he managed to pick up a modest haul of points with two sixth-place finishes at Most. Alongside Euro Moto, Soomer had also secured a place in the AutoRace Ube Racing endurance team for 2026. No sooner had he crossed the finish line at Most than he set off for Suzuka in Japan to take part in the test ahead of the Eight-Hour Race as part of the World Endurance Championship. But the plan backfired spectacularly.

Broken bones as an EWC souvenir

Soomer sustained such severe injuries to his right shoulder and right wrist in a crash during practice that, barely having arrived in Japan, he found himself back on a plane to Estonia. Back in Estonia, he was diagnosed with two fractures in his right wrist, which were operated on immediately, and a fracture of the humeral head in his shoulder was also detected. That was the end of Soomer’s season. As well as the Suzuka race, he also missed the Euro Moto races at Oschersleben and Assen.

At the last two Euro Moto events at the Nürburgring and the Hockenheimring, Soomer gritted his teeth and was back on the grid, but apart from a few respectable results in the midfield of the Superbike class, there wasn’t much more to be had, and Soomer ended the year in 12th place in the standings. He had also been forced to pull out of the World Endurance Championship finale at Le Castellet beforehand. Neither of his contracts was renewed.

“I need to completely reorient myself,” Soomer had explained at the last race of the year. “I’m open to anything, including when it comes to manufacturers. Sometimes it’s a good idea to strike out in a new direction. My goal hasn’t changed. I still want to win.”