It’s now official: Danilo Petrucci’s career in the World Superbike Championship is over

Danilo Petrucci and the BMW M1000RR – neither love at first sight nor a growing fondness. The dismal result from 15 races so far: 6th place in the second main race at the season opener in Australia as his best result. The Italian’s struggles to adapt were compounded by unbelievable bad luck, culminating in a fractured coccyx at Most. After eight of twelve events, the veteran therefore has just 48 points to his name and, ahead of the races at Magny-Cours this coming weekend, sits in a disappointing 16th place in the World Championship standings.

It has now been made official what has long been clear within the team: they will continue to compete together in the Superbike World Championship for the season; the seat alongside Miguel Oliveira for 2027 and 2028 will go to current MotoGP rider Brad Binder – SPEEDWEEK.com has reported on this on several occasions.

Petrucci’s Plan B has gone up in smoke

For the 35-year-old ‘Petrux’, this not only means the loss of his seat in the BMW works team, but also the end of his Superbike career. His Plan B would have been the Barni Spark Ducati team, but the Spaniard Xavier Vierge is set to join them and take over from Alvaro Bautista. Petrucci’s record in the World Superbike Championship: in 114 races to date, he has secured three wins and 20 podium finishes, all on a Ducati. He finished the World Championship in 5th, 5th and 7th place. Impressively, Petrucci has also won in MotoGP, the Superstock 1000 Cup, the US Superbike series MotoAmerica and even a stage of the Dakar Rally with KTM.

“I’m facing a number of problems,” said Petrucci, summing up his difficult season on Thursday afternoon at Magny-Cours. “We lost a lot of testing time over the winter. I tried to do what Toprak did, but couldn’t find a way to become more competitive on this bike. I’m not happy with my results. But it’s less about the results and more about the fact that I’m not able to ride this bike any faster, which is entirely down to me.”

It was clear to me that, at 36, I could either win – or I’d have to retire.

Danilo Petrucci

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BMW and Petrucci have signalled to each other that they can envisage a future together – outside the Superbike World Championship. There are several possibilities, such as as a test rider, in MotoAmerica or even the Endurance World Championship. “We haven’t discussed that yet,” the evergreen rider noted. “So far, we’ve only mutually agreed that we won’t be continuing together in the Superbike World Championship. I took that step last year because I wanted to try and win the championship. It was clear to me that, at 36, I could either win – or I’d have to retire. Unfortunately, the latter is the case. BMW have done a great deal, and I too have given my all since my injury in October. Then came the crashes in Hungary and Most, and I missed a few tests. That put everyone under pressure, and I wasn’t able to get the most out of the package.”

Petrucci doesn’t want to end his career just yet

“First of all, I’ll wait and see if BMW can offer me anything for the future,” remarked Petrucci. “I’m not in a rush. If you’ve got prospects for something, then you can carry on. At the moment, though, not many people in the Superbike World Championship are interested in me. I understand that; that’s life. I really appreciate what BMW gives me, and I’d love to carry on with them in a different role. If that doesn’t work out, I’ve got plenty of other things to get on with, even if it’s not as a racing driver.”

“If we could turn back the clock, we’d both make the same decision,” interjected BMW’s racing director Sven Blusch. “Sometimes things just don’t go as they should. We’re discussing a possible future together, but it’s still early days. We have some ideas, but we don’t yet know exactly which direction things might take.”