Brad Binder is a factory WorldSBK rider. BMW Motorrad Motorsport confirmed it on the eve of the San Marino MotoGP at Misano: the Potchefstroom rider will race the BMW M 1000 RR for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team in 2027.
He takes the seat Danilo Petrucci is vacating at the end of this season. Petrucci only arrived this year. BMW says it wants to keep the Italian in the family, just not in that garage.
How the MotoGP door shut
KTM is not extending Brad Binder past 2026. The factory is rebuilding for the 2027 technical regulations, the two works seats are going elsewhere, and there was nothing at Tech3. After seven premier-class seasons on orange, the grid ran out of rooms.
That ends more than a decade on KTM machinery — from the smaller classes through the bike that finally won a MotoGP race. Brad Binder has been the face of that project. The project is moving on without him.
The teammate who already knows the braking markers
Miguel Oliveira will be on the other side of the box. BMW locked him in the week before Magny-Cours. Brad Binder and Oliveira have shared a garage in 125cc, Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP, including the factory KTM team in 2021 and 2022. They are still the only two riders to have won a MotoGP race on a KTM.
That is the pairing BMW has put back together. The M 1000 RR already delivered world titles for Toprak Razgatlıoğlu in 2024 and 2025. 2026 has been a harder year. Two former KTM winners in the same pit is Munich trying to get back to the front, not parking a MotoGP name for the brochure.
Sven Blusch, head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport: “His goal is clear. He wants to fight for the World Championship title.”
“From Potch to a factory BMW seat, next to the man who shared his garage in four different classes. That’s a title shot, not a retirement ride!” – 🎙️Jay
What Brad Binder actually brings
The record is not decoration. Red Bull Rookies Cup, Grand Prix debut in the 125cc class in 2011, 2016 Moto3 world champion, 2019 Moto2 runner-up, MotoGP from 2020.
In only the third race of his rookie premier-class season he gave KTM its first MotoGP win, at Brno. The second came at the Red Bull Ring in 2021. Across seven seasons: two Grand Prix victories, nine more premier-class podiums, Sprint wins in Argentina and Jerez in 2023, and fourth in that year’s championship.
The last two and a half years have been thinner. His most recent Grand Prix podium was second in Qatar at the start of 2024. He finished 11th overall last season. He arrives at Misano 13th in the standings.
Starting from zero
Brad Binder has been in this paddock since the Rookies Cup in 2009. Speaking to Crash.net at Misano, he did not dress it up. Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing: “Something fresh again. Start from zero.”
He will not be the only MotoGP name on the 2027 WorldSBK grid. Jack Miller is confirmed at Pata Yamaha. Franco Morbidelli is heading across as well. Michelin takes over as tyre supplier that season. All three bring years of Michelin data from the prototype class. A homologated superbike is still a different animal.
First, the unfinished business. Brad Binder has half a MotoGP season left on the KTM and nine races to leave the paddock he has lived in for 17 years on his own terms.
When 2027 starts, South Africa will have a Grand Prix winner on a factory superbike — and a reason to stay up for every WorldSBK lights-out.
