The Superbike World Championship is expanding to China in 2027: mass hysteria looms

For years, manufacturers have been calling for a round in Asia, and now Superbike promoter Liberty (formerly Dorna) is granting their greatest wish: the production-based World Championship is set to make its debut in China as early as 2027, provided nothing goes wrong at the last minute. A contract with a race circuit has not yet been signed, but negotiations with two organisers are at an advanced stage.

The timing for a race weekend in China is ideal, as three Chinese manufacturers – Kove (World Superbike Championship), QJ Motor and ZX Moto (World Supersport Championship) – are already involved. Furthermore, CF Moto is working on entering the Superbike category with a V4 motorcycle – CF also has a homologation-ready sportsbike in its portfolio.

Thanks to ZX Moto’s successes in the middleweight class, the SBK series is currently experiencing a level of hype in China not seen for a long time – and probably never before on this scale. Star rider Valentin Debise has already secured six wins and eight podium finishes and has a realistic chance of finishing this year’s Supersport season as runner-up in the world championship.

Valentin Debise: a star in China

We’re already seeing more and more Chinese fans waving their flags at the racetrack. Debise has experienced this enthusiasm first-hand during his several visits to China. Much like the German table tennis star Timo Boll, the Frenchman is a celebrated star there.

How does Debise rate the prospects of a Superbike event in China? “There would be huge crowds, that’s for sure,” said the 34-year-old in a one-on-one interview with SPEEDWEEK.com editor-in-chief Ivo Schützbach. “The tickets will sell themselves; nobody at Dorna can imagine what it’ll be like over there. I’ve had 3 million followers on social media since the start of this year, and I reckon that ten to twelve million people in China know who I am. When I was there recently, I was literally besieged because everyone was so excited. I needed bodyguards because the fans were absolutely beside themselves. What I find brilliant about China is that motor racing is only just becoming popular there, and people are so euphoric because it’s all new to them. They think it’s the greatest fun ever and go absolutely wild for the sport. In Europe, we’ve lost some of that; the fire doesn’t burn as brightly as it does there. Dorna needs to do something to rekindle that fire.”

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Does money from China help other teams as well?

Companies from that populous country have also discovered the championship for themselves: the ZX-Moto Team Evan Bros has secured numerous sponsors from sectors that previously had no interest in motorbike racing. These include technology firms such as Honor (smartphones, amongst other things), DJI (drones and cameras), RCB (e-scooters) and Midea (household appliances and air conditioning systems). Traditional suppliers such as Torch (spark plugs), Taisko (brakes), Skyrich (batteries) and Lijian Industrial (starters and alternators) are also using the motorbikes ridden by Debise and his team-mate Federico Caricasulo as an advertising platform. The biggest sponsor – the Eastroc Beverage Group – produces energy drinks.

ZX-Moto-Gründer Zhang Xue mit seinen beiden Fahrern

Foto: gold & goose

Thanks to its successes in the production-based world championship, ZX Moto has managed to build up a huge fan base in a very short space of time, and sales figures for the motorbikes are rising steadily. In any country, people need something they can identify with in order to develop a love for motor racing. It is equally important that the company is led by Zhang Xue, an approachable and enthusiastic individual. It remains a vivid memory how the entrepreneur, in tears and on the verge of a heart attack, euphorically waved the Chinese flag at an event following Debise’s first Supersport victory. “He’s just a normal bloke from next door who enjoys life. Every time we win, he goes wild like a fan and talks about it that way too,” Debise said with a smile. “He’s got eight million followers on social media.”

When the Superbike World Championship visits the Cremona Circuit in two weeks’ time in 2026, more Chinese spectators than ever before are expected in the stands: for one thing, the ZX-Moto boss is organising a charter flight to bring in 200 fans. Furthermore, there are many Chinese people living in the Milan region. Officially, there are around 20,000, but in reality the figure is likely to be far higher.