World Superbike Championship test at Magny-Cours: Just a small, elite group

The 2026 Superbike World Championship has been on its summer break since Donington Park on 12 July. By the time the first free practice session takes place at Magny-Cours on 4 September, 51 days – or seven weeks and two days – will have passed – which feels like an eternity, especially for people whose professional success is measured in 1/1000 of a second.

The break from racing is interrupted by just a few test sessions. One of these is taking place this week on Thursday and Friday at the Circuit de Nevers. According to the regulations, testing is not permitted on the relevant circuit within eleven days of a race weekend; in this case, that amounts to almost three weeks.

But although all Superbike teams must be offered the chance to take part at a reasonable cost, only the factory teams from Honda Racing Corporation and ROKiT BMW, as well as the Ducati customer team Marc VDS, will be testing on both days.

Superbike test at Magny-Cours with just six participants

As things stand, Honda will be travelling with only its regular riders, Jake Dixon (30) and Somkiat Chantra (27). As long-standing GP riders, a test at Magny-Cours makes sense to familiarise the Englishman and the Thai rider with the 4,411-metre-long circuit in the heart of France.

BMW will be fielding its race riders Miguel Oliveira (31) and Danilo Petrucci (35), as well as test rider Michael van der Mark (33). Even though Petrucci has fallen out of favour with the German-British team for 2027, the Italian will be looking to put himself in the frame with other teams by delivering a strong finale.

The fact that Marc VDS is taking part with Sam Lowes (35) is also likely to give the other Ducati teams a certain advantage for the ninth round of the season – data is usually shared.