Spanish rider reveals “I expect nothing” from new WorldSBK class

Benat Fernandez says he has the same expectations for the 2026 World Sportbike season as he had in the 2025 WorldSSP300 championship: “I expect nothing”.

2025 was Fernandez’s first season in WorldSSP300, that coinciding with the final season of the 300 championship that arrived in 2017.

Despite his inexperience, he was able to make an immediate impact, taking pole position at the first round in Portugal, then winning Race 2 there. He went on to win the championship in a tense final race showdown at Jerez, taking the race win and title with a four-wide pass into the final corner.

Having approached the season with no expectations, the success he gained at the end of it is clearly something that is influencing Fernandez’s approach to the 2026 season when Supersport 300 will be replaced by the new World Sportbike category as the third tier of the World Superbike pyramid.

“I expect nothing, same as the beginning of this year – I didn’t expect [anything],” Fernandez told WorldSBK.com during the EICMA show in Milan.

“My goal is the same: try to do my best. With this, I’m very happy, if I do my best. 

“This means I can always push a bit more and improve all the races. This is the main goal, the main goal is to do my best and work a lot with the team.”

Fernandez added that he will first try the Kove 450RR he will race next year, and which was campaigned by Casey O’Gorman in the 2025 BSB Sportbike championship, in testing at the beginning of 2026.

“I never tried the bike,” Fernandez said. “I saw the races in BSB, but I don’t know how it will be. 

“For now, I have no feelings. 

“We expect to have the bike in the beginning of 2026, so I can test the bike and try to do some tests with the team, get some feelings before the races.”