The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship celebrated a historic 39th campaign, shattering records on and off track as several circuits posted record attendance figures over a WorldSBK weekend. Rounds in Portugal such as Round 2 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve and the Circuito Estoril, as well as Italy’s race weekends at the Misano World Circuit "Marco Simoncelli" and the Cremona Circuit, saw even more fans pour into the venues, culminating in a total increase of 4.5% across the entire season from 2025.
A total of 569,619 fans arrived to watch WorldSBK battles on track over the 2026 campaign, spanning rounds held in nine different countries. Across the 12 rounds, attendance averaged out to just shy of 50,000 fans packing into the grandstands each weekend, as well as partaking in the festivities of the podium ceremonies and Paddock Show. This represents a 4.5% increase from the stunning 2025 campaign, which saw the WorldSBK Riders’ Championship go down to the final round, unlike 2026, when the WorldSBK Riders’ title was wrapped up two rounds early.
Southern Portugal’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve hosted the second round of the 2026 season, and the first round back on European soil after Phillip Island’s season opener. 82,132 fans poured into the venue in part to see Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) shine on track as the first full-time Portuguese WorldSBK rider since Miguel Praia back in 2005. He sent the home fans into bedlam as the round featured his maiden podium in Race 1, followed by two more on Sunday, comprising his maiden WorldSBK podium triple. That figure marks an increase of nearly 30,000 at the venue last season, and of nearly 26k from the previous record attendance at Portimao set in 2019.
This positive trend in attendance wasn’t limited to just Portimao, however. 190 Km north at Estoril, attendance hit record highs of more than 36 thousand attendees, more than two thousand more than the previous record high set last season. Both of the 2026 season’s Italian rounds at Misano and Cremona also saw record highs. Round 7 took the Championship to Misano, where 76,170 people filled the circuit, a slight increase from the record 2025 figure and marks the highest tally at the round since at least 2015. Cremona saw home hero Bulega crowned 2026 Champion, and the #11 was greeted with the cheers of nearly 46,000 fans, a record sum over the three seasons in which WorldSBK has raced there by a margin of nearly two thousand fans.
