World Superbike Championship booming: record ticket sales, Portimão beats Misano

The 2026 Superbike World Championship featured twelve rounds across nine countries, and although the battle for victories was rather monotonous, fan support remained strong – quite the opposite, in fact. A total of 569,619 fans attended the races, which, according to promoter Liberty (formerly Dorna), represents a 4.5 per cent increase compared with the previous year.

The Balaton Park Circuit was excluded from this comparison because no ticket sales were reported for that year. Regular readers of SPEEEDWEEK.com will know that, after just two events, the new circuit in Hungary was already dropped from the calendar.

Portugal was the main contributor to the increase, with Portimão alone recording an incredible rise of 28,000 fans, whilst Estoril saw an increase of 2,000. This can be explained by Miguel Oliveira’s move from MotoGP to the ROKiT BMW Superbike works team, which mobilised his compatriots and brought them to the circuit. With 82,132 spectators, Portimão was by far the best-attended event of the year.

The Misano World Circuit also saw a slight increase. The event on the Adriatic coast has been a crowd-puller for years. In 2026, the figure of 76,170 was only 110 more than in 2025, but over 10,000 more than ten years ago! 45,977 fans set a new record for Cremona, although the Superbike circuit – situated in the triangle formed by the cities of Mantua, Parma and Cremona – has only been on the calendar since 2024. The setting for Ducati star Nicolò Bulega’s championship victory was, at the very least, perfect.

Spectators at the 2026 Superbike World Championship

Topic of the week

Soon-to-be world champion Kimi Antonelli: The inevitable will then follow in Mexico

The 20-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli had the chance to secure the 2026 World Championship title at the US Grand Prix. He did everything right: victory in Texas. The title celebrations have nevertheless been postponed. Until Mexico.

Mathias Brunner

Read More