Miguel Oliveira is taking a cautious approach to the beginning of his WorldSBK career, and prefers not to set concrete targets for himself.
The Portuguese rider has been able to speak publicly since the turn of the year following his first test with the factory BMW team last November.
It’s a team which has won the WorldSBK title in each of the past two seasons with Toprak Razgatlioglu, and so one where the expectations are automatically high. That said, Oliveira doesn’t yet want to state grand ambitions for what will be his first season in World Superbike.
“We should go a little bit race-by-race, I feel,” Oliveira told WorldSBK.com.
“For sure, coming into a team that has been World Champion for the past two seasons puts the stakes quite high.
“I need to be able to put myself up to speed and up to a competitive level where I can meet their expectations. So, that’s the target.”
He added: “I’m very excited. It’s definitely a big change, but I’m quite motivated to start this new chapter in my career.
“Changing a bike is already for itself a big change, but also changing paddock and meeting new people is also another challenge.
“But I really believe I will be surrounded with the best, and the team will help me for sure getting [up] to speed quite early.”
Oliveira had his first experience of the M1000 RR in WorldSBK trim at the post-season test in Jerez last November.
The Portuguese says that it will take “time and patience” for him to get comfortable with the new package.
“As a big change, you need to adapt technicalities, for sure, in your riding style – riding position is, for sure, also different – and so that’s the approach you take to the lines you do on the racetrack, how you approach braking, throttle, tyres, everything is very different,” he said.
“But I believe it takes just a bit of time and patience to get up to speed and to start to think about being competitive.”
Oliveira was back on-track for the first time in 2026 on 6 January at Portimao, alongside his teammate Danilo Petrucci. They were riding production versions of the M1000 RR due to WorldSBK testing restrictions. They will both be back on the race bikes at Jerez on 21–22 January for the first test of 2026.
