From 2027, Franco Morbidelli will leave MotoGP to join Aruba.it Racing – Ducati in WorldSBK, partnering Iker Lecuona and taking over the seat vacated by Nicolò Bulega.
Two paddocks. Two Ducatis. And two careers that, for a moment, appear to cross at exactly the same point. And there is an almost perfect symmetry to the move.
Bulega will leave the factory Panigale V4 R after winning the WorldSBK title and move into the Pertamina Enduro VR46 MotoGP seat currently occupied by Morbidelli. Morbidelli will leave that MotoGP seat and move onto the factory Ducati Superbike currently ridden by Bulega.
It is not a contractual rider swap. But it is hard not to see two careers passing the baton between two different paddocks.
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Morbidelli: nine MotoGP seasons, then something completely different
By the time he reaches the WorldSBK grid, Morbidelli will have completed nine seasons in MotoGP. He entered the premier class in 2018 after winning the 2017 Moto2 World Championship. His biggest MotoGP season came in 2020, when three Grand Prix victories and two further podiums carried him to second in the World Championship. Factory Yamaha followed. Then Pramac. Then VR46 and a return to Ducati machinery.
But 2027 will not bring another MotoGP project. It will bring another championship. And a factory seat inside the team that has just won the WorldSBK Riders’ title with Bulega.
Not quite a return
There is another detail worth remembering. Long before Moto2 and MotoGP, Morbidelli’s career already passed through the production-based paddock.
He raced in European Superstock 600 in 2012 before winning the Superstock 600 title in 2013 and beginning the Grand Prix career that would eventually take him to Moto2 and MotoGP. So this is not really a return to where he started. Too much has happened since then.
Morbidelli comes back with a Moto2 World Championship, three MotoGP victories, a premier-class runner-up finish and years of experience across factory and satellite projects. Same wider world. Very different rider.
One technical detail that could matter
There is also a small but significant technical element to the move.
From 2027, Michelin will replace Pirelli as WorldSBK’s exclusive tyre supplier under a five-year agreement running through 2031. That means Morbidelli will arrive with years of direct Michelin experience from MotoGP just as the entire Superbike paddock begins learning the new tyre. Aruba Team Principal Stefano Cecconi specifically highlighted that experience as potentially valuable, while Morbidelli will also retain some continuity by staying within the Ducati family.
Bulega moves up. Morbidelli changes direction.
When Bulega’s MotoGP move was announced, we wrote: He did not go backwards. He came back different.
Now Morbidelli is standing on the other side of that intersection.
Bulega used WorldSBK to rebuild a path towards MotoGP. Morbidelli reaches WorldSBK after almost a decade in the premier class.
One leaves Aruba as World Champion. The other arrives to inherit that seat.
And somewhere between the two paddocks sits a remarkably neat detail: Bulega takes the bike Morbidelli leaves. Morbidelli takes the bike Bulega leaves.
We will find out in 2027 what those two moves become. For now, both careers are about to begin a new chapter on the opposite side of the paddock.
LINK:
Leggi: Nicolò Bulega reunites with VR46: from 2027, a MotoGP path built through WorldSBK
Leggi: FACTORY SEAT FILLED: Morbidelli to join Aruba.it – Ducati for 2027 WorldSBK campaign
