Miguel Oliveira has no doubts that Brad Binder is the right man for BMW in WorldSBK 2027. The two will become teammates, and Oliveira believes Binder's experience and mindset will bring a fresh breeze to the Bavarian outfit.
Binder and Oliveira are no strangers. They have shared the MotoGP paddock at all three levels, including at the factory KTM team in 2021 and 2022. That partnership produced KTM's last premier class win through Oliveira in Thailand 2022, before Pedro Acosta broke the drought in Spielberg last weekend.
"Brad is a very competitive rider, he has a lot to show and give," Oliveira told WorldSBK.com ahead of the Italian round. "That's exactly what we also need in the garage, is that positive mindset, attitude, even when the times are hard, to just make the bike in a good place. I think Brad is a good candidate to do that."
BMW itself is striving to return to form after being dominated by Ducati this season. The German manufacturer hopes Binder's arrival can revive the team's fighting spirit, similar to what Oliveira experienced during his KTM days. "Hopefully we will still get along as we still did in the past, and build a good team environment and push the whole project forward," he added.
However, there is a big task ahead for BMW. At Magny-Cours, the last round, they were never in contention for the top 10, despite having swept all three races there in 2025 with Toprak Razgatlioglu. Oliveira admitted that the weekend was challenging. "We came here [Cremona] with a positive attitude and mindset after the tough weekend we had in Magny-Cours," he said. "That's the only approach we can have. The challenge is to extract the best out of the package and see where that places in the field. I don't set up any specific goals for the weekend, but want to start working in a good way from FP1 and hopefully we can find a good package to continue the weekend."
Still, Oliveira is uncertain whether the team has identified the root cause of their Magny-Cours struggles. "We have an idea of why it was challenging, but it's quite hard now to confirm that because we don't have that many opportunities, that many races, that we can just go back-to-back and try a few things. So, hopefully we've done our homework well and we have a competitive bike from FP1."
With Binder joining, BMW hopes to rebuild a strong team foundation. The combination of Binder's experience and fighting spirit is seen as key to facing Ducati's dominance and bouncing back in 2027. Oliveira is optimistic that this partnership will bring positive change to the team.
Read Also
Iker Lecuona akui peluang juara WorldSBK 2026 tertutup saat Nicolo Bulega dominan. Fokus Lecuona beralih ke musim 2027 bersama Ducati.
Motorsport Australia dan AASA bekerja sama gelar AU4 dan berbagai kategori di Queensland Raceway, 25-27 September. Simak jadwal dan siaran langsungnya.
Loris Baz kembali ke WorldSBK untuk menggantikan Tarran Mackenzie yang cedera di MGM Optical Express Racing pada ronde Italia di Cremona akhir pekan ini.
Continue with Google
Discussion (0)
Join the Discussion!
Sign in easily to start commenting, replying, and interacting with other readers.
Latest Comments
No comments yet. Be the first!