Honda heads into the 2026 British Superbike Championship seeking to get back to title-winning ways with a diverse rider and team line-up that marries experience and exciting young talent.
It has been 13 years since Honda last lifted the BSB title, courtesy of Alex Lowes in 2013, though it got to within a point of the overall crown with Tommy Bridewell two seasons ago.
For 2026, however, Honda Racing has cleaned house in its factory-backed team and introduced an all-new line-up comprising Jason O’Halloran and Ryan Vickers.
Both riders return to BSB after a year competing on the international stage – O’Halloran in the Endurance World Championship and Vickers in the WorldSBK Championship – and both arrive at Honda with multiple BSB race wins in their repertoire.
This is especially true of O’Halloran, who has won no fewer than 28 BSB races since making his debut back in 2008.
The Australian’s arrival marks a return to the ‘redwing’ camp, O’Halloran having competed on Honda machinery between 2008 and 2018. As well as being a prolific race winner, O’Halloran finished runner-up overall in 2020.
Vickers, meanwhile, comes back to BSB looking to pick up from where he left off from the 2024 season.
Having made his BSB debut in 2020 as one of the youngest riders to have ever competed in the series, Vickers scored his first wins in 2023 before topping the podium on seven occasions en route to fifth overall in 2024, prior to his move onto the international stage.
In all, seven teams will run Honda machinery in BSB this season, across a total of 11 riders.
Leading the independent Honda fraternity will be DAO Racing, which enters an unchanged rider line-up of Josh Brookes and Lee Jackson.
Ultra experienced Brookes – champion in 2015 and 2020 – might have earned former road racing specialists DAO Racing its first BSB win last season, but it was the 57th of his own career.
Another esteemed BSB veteran, Jackson will look to get back up to the speed that has had him winning races in the past following an injury hampered 2025 campaign.
Like DAO Racing, the 2025 BSB season marked a breakthrough for TAG Racing as it notched up podiums with Fraser Rogers last year. He remains on board for another season with the team, where he will race alongside up-and-coming star Charlie Nesbitt.
MasterMac (nee Hawk Racing), meanwhile, are investing in the future by hiring Rhys Irwin and Eugene McManus for what will be their rookie BSB campaigns.
The duo are standouts from the supporting British Supersport Championship, the title of which would go Irwin’s way in 2025. Both will look to follow in the wheeltracks of other BritishSSP-turned-BSB alumni such as Rory Skinner, Charlie Nesbitt and Kyle Ryde.
Elsewhere, Whitecliffe CDH Racing have Luke Hedger for a third campaign with the team, while NP Motorcycles enters Connor Thomson and former Superstock Champion Richard Kerr will campaign the SM Racing entry.
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