Kawasaki completes major first in Sportbike World Championship
Kawasaki’s racing success has extended itself to the new Sportbike World Championship, after the Japanese company secured the Manufacturers’ title for the first time in Cremona.
Kawasaki has made history by becoming the first manufacturer to win the inaugural Sportbike World Championship.
The achievement reinforces Kawasaki’s impressive record when it comes to world championship racing, particularly in the middleweight class.
Kawasaki has won many titles in both World Supersport and World Superbike over the last 20 years, however, success in both championships has been harder to come by of late.
That’s largely down to the likes of Ducati and Yamaha bringing machines such as the Panigale V2 and R9 to the Supersport class.
These two bikes, along with ZXMoto’s 820RR-RS have far and away been the most competitive bikes in the class this year.
But while the ZX-6R might have seen better days with regards to the Supersport series, the ZX-6R 636 has been utterly dominant in the Sportbike World Championship.
Its success has been an extension of the brand’s long-term achievements in the previous World Supersport 300 class, which was replaced by the Sportbike series in 2026. Kawasaki decided to run the ZX-6R 636 after moving away from the Ninja 400.
Team Green has already secured the Manufacturers’ title, while the Teams’ championship is set to be won by Team Prodina Kawasaki XCI.
The Riders’ title will be won by one of two ZX-6R 636 riders, with David Salvador narrowly holding the advantage over Xavier Artigas heading into the final round at Jerez.
Speaking about the company’s success this season, Managing Director of Kawasaki Motors Europe, Shigemi Tanaka, said:
“Kawasaki is understandably proud to achieve the manufacturers title in the inaugural World Sportbike Championship. Our investment in this feeder class within the WorldSBK paddock goes back to the very start of the WSS300 series in which our teams and riders took five titles and collectively Kawasaki won the manufacturer title seven times.
“At the outset of this new Championship, we knew we could not rest on our laurels, so we moved from the Ninja 400 to the Ninja ZX-6R 636 as machine of choice. That decision has been vindicated by the many fastest laps, pole positions and race wins by Kawasaki mounted riders across the season.”
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After graduating with a sports journalism degree, Robert joined Crash.net to lead the WorldSBK coverage in 2021, while also providing MotoGP coverage. Fulfilling that role for over three years, Robert was able to put his knowledge about all things racing to the test.
