Brad Binder Is Leaving MotoGP: Why He’s Joining BMW in World Superbike

After seven seasons with KTM’s factory team, and two MotoGP wins and 11 MotoGP podiums along the way, Brad Binder is leaving MotoGP. The 31-year-old from Potchefstroom will race for BMW’s factory team in the World Superbike Championship (WorldSBK) in 2027, alongside his old KTM team-mate Miguel Oliveira. BMW confirmed the move on 9 September, in the build-up to the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.

That leaves four scheduled Grand Prix weekends in his MotoGP career: Malaysia this weekend (30 October to 1 November), Qatar (6 to 8 November, if it goes ahead, as riders have raised safety concerns about the conflict in the region), Portugal (20 to 22 November) and the season finale in Valencia (27 to 29 November). As Binder put it when the news broke: “It’s going to be my last, so I better enjoy it.”

Why he’s leaving KTM

KTM did not extend Binder’s contract beyond 2026, and the Austrian factory has rebuilt both of its MotoGP teams for next season. Alex Márquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio take the Red Bull KTM factory seats, while Luca Marini and the Moto2 rider Senna Agius join Tech3. Binder’s 2026 teammate, Pedro Acosta, is leaving too, for the factory Ducati team.

The results explain part of the decision. Binder has not stood on a MotoGP podium since the opening race of 2024 in Qatar. He finished 11th in the 2025 championship, and after the Phillip Island Sprint last weekend he sits 13th in the 2026 standings with 108 points, while Acosta, on the same bike, is fourth with 263. And 2027 brings a clean sheet for everyone: MotoGP drops from 1,000 cc to 850 cc engines and switches from Michelin to Pirelli tyres.

Phillip Island showed that he hasn’t stopped trying. After an engine failure on Friday, he finished third in Q1, one place short of Q2, started 13th and finished sixth in Saturday’s Sprint. Sunday’s Grand Prix was cancelled because of the weather, so that sixth place was the weekend’s only result.

The record he leaves behind

It’s easy to forget how good Binder’s Grand Prix career has been. He was Moto3 world champion in 2016 with seven wins, runner-up in Moto2 in 2019, and in only his third MotoGP race, at Brno in 2020, he gave KTM its first premier-class victory. A year later he won the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring from tenth on the grid, staying out on slick tyres as the rain came in the closing laps. His best championship finish was fourth in 2023, the year he also won Sprint races in Argentina and at Jerez.

He has also been one of the most loyal riders in the paddock. Binder spent his whole MotoGP career in KTM’s factory team, and he has been racing in this paddock since the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in 2009.

What he’s going to

Binder joins the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, run by Shaun Muir Racing, in place of Danilo Petrucci, who leaves BMW’s factory World Superbike team at the end of 2026. It’s a team that knows how to win: Toprak Razgatlıoğlu took the 2024 and 2025 World Superbike titles on the BMW M 1000 RR before he left for MotoGP. This year’s title went to Ducati’s Nicolò Bulega, who moves up to MotoGP in 2027.

Sven Blusch, head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport, didn’t hide BMW’s ambitions for him: “His goal is clear: he wants to fight for the World Championship title.” Blusch also said Binder will first need to get used to the M 1000 RR and a new championship, and that BMW expects him to do it quickly.

His team-mate will be a familiar face. Binder and Oliveira were team-mates at Red Bull KTM Ajo in Moto3 in 2015 and in Moto2 in 2017 and 2018, then in KTM’s factory MotoGP team in 2021 and 2022. “I’d have to sit and count how many times we’ve been team-mates,” Binder joked, adding that their similar riding styles should make life easier for the people building the bikes.

The timing has one more twist. From 2027, WorldSBK switches from Pirelli to Michelin; the tyre Binder has raced on throughout his MotoGP career, while MotoGP goes the other way to Pirelli. He isn’t assuming that will make the change easy, saying he doesn’t know how similar the superbike tyres will be to the ones he knows. Superbikes are production-based machines that are heavier and less specialised than a MotoGP prototype, and Binder knows he is starting again. In his words: “Start from zero. I’m excited for a new challenge.”

He won’t be the only MotoGP name making that move. Jack Miller has signed for Pata Yamaha in WorldSBK, and Franco Morbidelli is also switching to superbikes for 2027, which should make for a strong grid in Michelin’s first season as the championship’s sole tyre supplier.

Darryn steps up too

Brad isn’t the only Binder with a new ride. His younger brother Darryn, who raced in MotoGP in 2022, has just had the best season of his career. In his first year in America, he won the 2026 MotoAmerica Supersport Championship with a round to spare, taking 11 wins and 14 podiums.

For 2027, he moves up to MotoAmerica Superbike with Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati on a Panigale V4 R, alongside six-time champion Cameron Beaubier. It will be a big step. “I’ve never raced a superbike before, so it’ll be new to me,” Darryn said.

So next year both Binder brothers will race superbikes: Brad on a BMW in the world championship, and Darryn on a Ducati in the United States.

What it means for South African fans

For the first time since 2019, the MotoGP grid will have no South African rider in 2027. That makes the remaining races the last chance to watch a South African in MotoGP for a while, starting at Sepang this weekend.

From next season, though, South African fans have a big reason to follow World Superbike. A factory BMW, a team that won back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025, and a rider who still has a lot to prove: Brad Binder’s next chapter could be one of the best stories of 2027.