Franco Morbidelli calls time on MotoGP career, joins Ducati WorldSBK for 2027
Franco Morbidelli will end his MotoGP career at the end of this year, as he moves to WorldSBK for 2027 with Ducati.
Franco Morbidelli will make the switch from MotoGP to the FIM Superbike World Championship in 2027, joining the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team alongside Iker Lecuona.
Morbidelli will take over the factory Ducati Panigale V4 R currently raced by newly crowned WorldSBK champion Nicolò Bulega. The move marks the end of Morbidelli’s 14-season career in the MotoGP paddock, which has taken him from the Moto2 grid to the premier class.
The 31-year-old Italian came through the VR46 Riders Academy and won the European Superstock 600 championship in 2013.
Four years later, he became Moto2 World Champion, becoming the first Italian rider to win the intermediate-class title.
Speaking about the new, Morbidelli said:
“I am very happy and excited about this new chapter in my career. I thank Ducati and Aruba for this opportunity. As always, I will do my best to live up to a team that has fought at the top for years and has just won the Superbike World Championship. I will do the best job possible to achieve great results together.”
Morbidelli stepped up to MotoGP with Honda in 2018 and was named Rookie of the Year before moving to Yamaha for 2019. His best season came in 2020, when he won three races and finished runner-up in the World Championship.
He joined Ducati with Prima Pramac Racing in 2024 before moving to the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team for 2025, where he has continued to race a Desmosedici GP.
Across his time in Moto2 and MotoGP, Morbidelli has contested 228 races, taking 11 wins, 29 podiums and eight pole positions.
His move to WorldSBK means Ducati will now have an experienced MotoGP rider stepping onto the Panigale V4 R, with Morbidelli replacing Bulega in the factory team after the latter secured the 2026 WorldSBK title.
The 2027 season will therefore represent a significant change for Morbidelli as he begins his first full campaign in the production-based championship and gets his first taste of WorldSBK machinery at the sharp end of the grid.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
