The 2026 WorldSBK grid will be stacked full of rookies, Alberto Surra the latest to join the grid with Motocorsa Ducati.

Surra raced the final four rounds of the 2025 WorldSSP season with the Evan Bros Yamaha team, replacing Aldi Mahendra, and made an immediate impact at Magny-Cours where he was on the podium in his first race.

There was not another rostrum finish before the end of the year, but three top-fives and no finishes outside the top-10 earned him the attention of Motocorsa Ducati, after the Italian team decided to part with Ryan Vickers for 2026.

As a result, Surra became one of several riders to be making his debut in WorldSBK next year, along with 2025 Supersport World Champion Stefano Manzi, Moto2 race winners Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra, five-time MotoGP winner Miguel Oliveira, and CIV Supersport graduate Mattia Rato.

“I got this fantastic opportunity from the Motocorsa team with Ducati, and I'm really happy,” Surra told Italian publication Corse di Moto.

“We started talking at the end of the season; it was a last-minute offer, and I had already had other ideas, but I jumped at it right away. 

“I've made my mark in World Superbike, this year in Supersport, and I have 99.9 per cent thanks to the Evan Bros team, especially Fabio Evangelista and Mauro Pellegrini. But also the entire team, who made it possible. 

“I managed to bring home some good results, and I've also made myself known to Motocorsa.”

The Italian added that he had opportunities to be in Supersport next year, but decided he could not afford to miss an opportunity to move to Superbike.

“I had some opportunities to go there [to Supersport], but in the end I decided to go straight to the premier class,” Surra said, “primarily because I'm young, 21, and these opportunities only come around once, so I took them right away. 

“And there's always time to return to Supersport if things go badly, even though I'm sure they won’t. 

“But we riders are always ready for new challenges, and I find this one even more stimulating.”

Surra missed both the October and November tests in Jerez, so will not get his first taste of World Superbike machinery until 2026.

“In January we will have two two-day tests in Spain and Portugal,” he said, “then there will be the two-day test in Australia in February, and then we get started.”