Hard fought maiden WorldSSP podium for Oli Bayliss in front of home crowd

WorldSBK 2026

Round One – Phillip Island
WorldSSP Race One

The Phillip Island blacktop was registering 45 degrees as riders formed up on the grid for the opening World Supersport contest of the 2026 season. For the first time since 2019, this race was set to be contested over a full 18-lap distance, with every rider on the same D0922 Pirelli Medium rear tyre and a couple of soft variations of the SC1 front tyre.

Can Oncu scored the holeshot ahead of Valentin Debise, Jaume Masia and Peter Oettl.  Oli Bayliss had a poor run towards turn one and was shuffled down to eighth, but had recovered to sixth by Siberia as Masia forged his way to the lead.

Tom Booth-Amos went down at turn two on lap four, which ended his podium challenge.

Jaume Masia steadily pulled away from his pursuers and enjoyed a two-second lead with 14 laps to run while Peter Oetll was a clear second place with a handy buffer over Can Oncu, Valentin Debise, Albert Arenas, Oli Bayliss and Lucas Mahias.

Debise then went down and out of the game at turn four on lap eight. Bayliss moved up to fourth and set about trying to chase down Can Oncu. Masia led Oettl by almost three seconds at this juncture, with Oncu a further two seconds behind.

While the first and second positions looked well decided by half-race distance, the battle for the final step on the rostrum was on in earnest.

Oli Bayliss

Oli Bayliss, Albert Arenas, Can Oncu and Lucas Mahias were nose to tail for a number of laps before Bayliss made a small mistake that relegated him from the front of that pack to the rear as the race reached two-thirds distance.

Bayliss forged his way back to the front of that battle for third by lap 15 of 18 but still had Oncu and Arenas in close company. The Australian had extended his buffer to three-tenths by the last lap board and looked set to benefit from Oncu and Arenas dusting each other in their battle for fourth.

Oli Bayliss

A complete domination by Jaume Masia, victorious by almost six seconds, while Peter Oettl was also largely in a race of his own in second.

WorldSSP 2026 – Round One – Phillip Island – Supersport Race One Podium

Oli Bayliss was elated with his hard-fought maiden podium finish, which is hopefully a sign of more to come from the 22-year-old this season.

Oli Bayliss

“I think we have definitely improved with the team which shows how we started the first test.We had good confidence straight away and I could ride the bike how I wanted. I think if it was just a Phillip Island effect [home round], I think this would have happened some years ago now. I think being able to go with the PTR team again for the 2nd year gives you some confidence going back with the same team. I mean we need to see how it goes tomorrow and how it goes in Portimao in a couple of weeks. Something has just clicked. We have a really good bike behind us and a good team to work on the bikes. They have been studying all winter trying to make the package better.”

Oli Bayliss

Albert Arenas held out Can Oncu to secure a fourth-place result, and that duo were well clear of Matteo Ferrari in sixth.

The fastest lap of the race was a 1m32.310 on lap three by Masia. The race lap record was set by Yari Montella in 2024 at 1m31.271.

Jaume Masia

WorldSSP Race One Results

2026 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship calendar

……Date…….	Country	Circuit	WorldSBK	WorldSSP	WorldSPB
20-22 Feb	AUS	Phillip Island GP	X	X
27-29 Mar	POR	Algarve Int’l	X	X	X
17-19 Apr	NED	TT Assen	X	X	X
1-3 May	HUN	Balaton Park	X	X
15-17 May	CZE	Most	X	X	X
29-31 May	ESP	MotorLand Aragon	X	X	X
12-14 Jun	ITA	Misano – Marco Simoncelli	X	X	X
10-12 Jul	UK	Donington Park	X	X
4-6 Sep	FRA	Nevers Magny-Cours	X	X	X
25-27 Sep	ITA	Cremona	X	X	X
9-11 Oct	POR	Estoril	X	X
16-18 Oct	ESP	Jerez – Angel Nieto*	X	X	X

2026 World Superbike Championship Entry List

Rider	Bike	Team
I.Lecuona	Duc	Aruba.It Ducati
N.Bulega	Duc	Aruba.It Ducati
D.Petrucci	BMW	ROKiT BMW Motorrad
M.Oliveira	BMW	ROKiT BMW Motorrad
A.Locatelli	Yam	Pata Maxus Yamaha
X.Vierge	Yam	Pata Maxus Yamaha
Y.Montella	Duc	Barni Spark
A.Bautista	Duc	Barni Spark
A.Lowes	Bim	bimota by Kawasaki
A.Bassani	Bim	bimota by Kawasaki
S.Chantra	Hon	Honda HRC
J.Dixon	Hon	Honda HRC
S.Manzi	Yam	GYTR GRT Yamaha
R.Gardner	Yam	GYTR GRT Yamaha
S.Lowes	Duc	ELF Marc VDS
L.Baldassarri	Duc	Goeleven
T.Mackenzie	Duc	MGM Racing
G.Gerloff	Kaw	Kawasaki WorldSBK
A.Surra	Duc	Motocorsa
M.Rato	Yam	Motoxracing
B.Sofuoglu	Yam	Motoxracing
A.Iannone	Duc	Cainam Racing