Franco Morbidelli will move from MotoGP to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in 2027 after agreeing to join the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team.
The Italian will make his WorldSBK debut with Ducati’s factory squad after eight seasons in MotoGP, where he raced for both Yamaha and Ducati. Morbidelli will take the seat being vacated by Nicolò Bulega, with the reigning 2026 WorldSBK champion set to join VR46 Racing Team in MotoGP next year.
Morbidelli spoke at Cremona, where Bulega was crowned 2026 WorldSBK champion, according to WorldSBK.
Morbidelli said his switch offered an important opportunity following a difficult MotoGP campaign in which he had struggled on some occasions. He said he wanted to use the chance offered by Ducati effectively and hoped to return to winning ways.
Morbidelli will line up alongside Iker Lecuona, who has been confirmed as his team-mate for 2027. Morbidelli said he knew Lecuona well, including from the Spaniard’s MotoGP substitute appearances this season, and regarded him as a strong rider. Lecuona stood in for Gresini Ducati at Balaton Park and Silverstone, according to WorldSBK.
A factory Ducati opportunity after MotoGP
Morbidelli joins a team that he said had a package capable of winning. He indicated that competing at that level would be his objective, while also acknowledging that WorldSBK’s field would be difficult.
The move follows eight seasons in MotoGP, a career that has included three MotoGP race wins. His existing experience of Ducati machinery does not remove the scale of the adjustment ahead, however, as he will be learning a different bike and adapting to a championship with its own race-weekend procedures.
Morbidelli said he did not yet know which part of the transition would prove most demanding, but expected there to be several challenges. He identified the need to understand the feeling of a new motorcycle and to become familiar with the championship itself.
Among the practical differences, WorldSBK does not use MotoGP’s Q1 and Q2 qualifying format, while its weekends feature three races rather than two. Morbidelli said he hoped to learn those unfamiliar elements quickly and expected Ducati to make a strong effort to help him do so.
That makes the appointment more than a straight continuation of his MotoGP career. Morbidelli said the Aruba Ducati package was capable of winning, but he will be preparing for a distinct competitive format and a fresh technical reference point at the same time.
Return to the paddock where his career developed
Although 2027 will be Morbidelli’s first WorldSBK season, it will not be his first time racing in the paddock. He made his STK600 debut in 2011 and secured his first pole position and podium in that category the following year.
In 2013, Morbidelli won the STK600 title after taking two victories and five podium finishes. Those performances helped earn him an opportunity in Moto2, before he progressed to MotoGP.
Morbidelli said returning to the WorldSBK environment would feel like revisiting the roots of his motorcycle racing career. He recalled beginning his career on larger machines in that paddock and said the return, more than a decade later, would carry a strong emotional element.
His arrival also completes an important part of Ducati’s 2027 rider picture. Bulega’s departure for VR46 creates the opening that Morbidelli will fill, while Lecuona remains in place alongside him. The pairing will combine a rider arriving from eight seasons in MotoGP with Lecuona, whose 2026 season WorldSBK described as a breakout year.
Whether that ambition translates quickly into front-running results will depend on how rapidly he can adapt to the bike, race format and depth of competition he will meet in 2027.