Prepare to be intrigued! Spanish rider Benat Fernandez is approaching the upcoming 2026 World Sportbike season with a mindset that might surprise you: "I expect nothing." This bold statement is a direct echo of his approach to the 2025 WorldSSP300 championship, a strategy that ultimately led him to incredible success.
2025 marked Fernandez's debut in the WorldSSP300 series, which, coincidentally, was also the final season for this exciting class, which started back in 2017. Despite being new to the scene, Fernandez made an immediate splash. He grabbed pole position at the very first race in Portugal, and then went on to win Race 2!
But here's where it gets really interesting: Fernandez clinched the championship in a nail-biting final race at Jerez. He secured both the race win and the title with an audacious four-wide pass in the final corner! Talk about a dramatic finish!
Now, with this remarkable victory under his belt, and the transition to the new World Sportbike category in 2026, replacing the Supersport 300 as the third tier of the World Superbike pyramid, Fernandez is sticking to his guns. "I expect nothing, same as the beginning of this year – I didn’t expect [anything]," he shared with WorldSBK.com during the EICMA show in Milan.
His focus remains clear: "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 is also eager to test his new Kove 450RR, the bike he'll be racing next year, which was previously raced by Casey O’Gorman in the 2025 BSB Sportbike championship. "I never tried the bike," Fernandez admitted. "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.”
This approach begs the question: Can this 'no expectations' strategy truly be the secret to success in the high-stakes world of motorcycle racing? Or is it a way to manage pressure? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
