Despite his greatest career success: Oliver Bayliss is considering retiring from the World Championship

In early August, SPEEDWEEK.com reported on Oli Bayliss’s plans to switch to the British Superbike Championship for 2027 – and to make it into the World Superbike Championship via this detour! This strategy has worked out well for his family before: after winning the BSB title in 1999, his father Troy was called up by Ducati the following year to replace the injured Carl Fogarty, marking the start of his impressive international career, during which he secured three World Championship titles and 52 Superbike race wins, and even triumphed once as a wildcard rider (!) in MotoGP.

His son Oli, born on 20 September 2003 in Monaco and the spitting image of his father, grew up with motor racing and joined the Supersport World Championship in 2022. After three seasons with Ducati teams, he switched to Triumph in 2025 and secured his first podium finishes this year, finishing third at Phillip Island and at Brüx (Most). In Saturday’s race at Estoril, he missed out on victory by a mere 0.075 seconds to his Triumph team-mate Tom Booth-Amos, but secured his second-best career result by finishing second. The fact that he is only 14th in the overall standings is also down to a prolonged spell on the sidelines due to injury.

Bayliss: A Ducati Superbike is on the cards for 2027

Speaking to SPEEDWEEK.com about next year, Oli said: “My ideal scenario is to ride a big bike. I rode a Superbike for the first time in 2021; I’ve always enjoyed it and it suits my height, weight and riding style.”

Although his father Troy has been pulling a few strings behind the scenes in recent years, he has largely stayed out of day-to-day operations. Now his connections are in demand once again: Oli is set to ride a Ducati in the BSB in 2027 – though it is not yet clear which team he will be with.

“My aim is to make it into the World Superbike Championship,” emphasised Bayliss Junior. “As long as I make it there, I don’t care how I get there. I’m in my fifth season in the World Supersport Championship and I’ve finally managed to achieve some good results in the last few races. I had a lot of injuries, especially in the early years; but the point is that I’ll become one with a Supersport bike if I carry on racing in this class for longer.”

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