Oli Bayliss: Beyond his surname, forging his own path

The 2026 season of the FIM Supersport World Championship delivered some positive results from Oli Bayliss, who made significant steps forward with the PTR Triumph Racing Team.

The Australian rider, known as the son of multiple WorldSBK Champion Troy Bayliss, has proved once again that he's much more than "Troy's son": despite an overall difficult season (with also an injury), he managed to score three podium finishes (3rd in Race 1 at Phillip Island and Race 2 at Most, 2nd in Race 1 at Estoril), which represent also his first top-3 results on the world stage. Besides that, he also did a great job in the British Supersport Championship, where he won 11 races and scored more podium finishes with the Macadam Triumph Racing Team.

Palmen in Motorradsport had the chance to interview Oli Bayliss to know more about him and his story. This includes also the beginnings of his career, plus handling the pressure of being a Bayliss...

Oli, did you expect the 2026 season to go like this?

You have to expect these things, but it's definitely been the best season in WorldSSP so far for me. We've had some difficulties, but we scored podiums. The one at Most though was a lucky one, because Tom and Lucas (Booth-Amos and Mahias, ed) crashed on the last lap. I prefer the podium in Phillip Island, also because we were very fast during the whole weekend.

How did it feel for you to score your first podium in World Supersport at Phillip island, on home soil?

That's the main place I want to do it. It just kind of all worked out: we hadn't really done much testing, but we went into Phillip Island test and instantly felt quite good. Then yeah...it just ended up being a good weekend.

What about your season in the British Supersport Championship? How do you like it there?

It was a bit of a strange situation how it all worked. Bradley Perie, a rider for the factory Macadam Triumph Racing Team in the BSB, had an injury at the start of the year. I know Dave (Wadsworth, owner of the team, ed) quite well. We had a little chat and I told him that apart from two rounds, I could do every race of the year since there were no clashes with World Supersport. I ended up riding their bike from the third round onwards and there it's been pretty good. There's a great atmosphere in the BSB Championship and we've also had some pretty good results (including 11 wins, ed).

Do you like the British circuits?

For sure they're particular, but I'm really a fan of it. It's a little bit strange, because I kind of grew up on the circuits we have in Australia, and they are not that different from the British tracks. I normally like tight circuits, like also Most and Magny-Cours in the World Championship, or especially Brands Hatch and Oulton Park in BSB.

Now let's step back to the start of your racing career. Can you share more about how your career started? And what role did your father play in it?

I actually started off in go-karts. I don't really know why, it was just the first thing that I'd done. Then, after a while, my dad asked if I wanted to ride motorbikes, and I said yes. We started with flat track and then we slowly progressed into road racing. It was easy to go from go-karts to flat track, and then to road racing. Obviously, he pushed a little bit more on the road racing side, but no matter what we started with, it was always going to come to us racing road bikes.

How were your seasons in Australia?

They were good. It took a little bit to learn how to go fast on a road bike, but as soon as I started competing, we were fighting for wins from my second year onwards. Then, every time we moved up a class, I always outgrew on the bike I was on: when I was racing 300cc, I was already almost ready to ride a 600cc, and from the 600cc in the Australian Championship I moved straight to the Superbike class. It all happened pretty quick.

What are your best memories from the years you spent in the ASBK?

Fighting with mates. Australia is a big place, but motorcycle racing in Australia isn't a massive thing like in Europe. It's a close group of people and everyone gets on with everyone. That means that most of the time you are racing with your friends and having fun. We fought hard on the racetrack, but when we were back to the pits, we had a good laugh.

One special memory I have is from when I was 13 or 14. They planned the Supersport 300 to do a support race at Phillip Island, during the weekend of the MotoGP event...I don't hold it close to my heart, but it was still cool to win in front of all the MotoGP teams and riders. And I was still very young, so it was a really special one.

Then, in 2022 you joined the Barni Spark Racing Team, and then you raced three seasons on a Ducati with them and later with D34G Racing. What can you say about those seasons?

For sure it was a wake-up call, because when you come over from any championship, you expect to do good things even if you didn't win where you raced previously. Sometimes it works out instantly straight, but sometimes, and that was my case, it doesn't. In my first years I had a lot of injuries: I didn't really crash a lot, but every time I crashed I would hurt something. This ruined the first two years. We had some good results, especially for tracks we hadn't seen before. In 2024, my second year with Davide Giugliano's team, I had a good season: I got on good with the team and we made some good progress over the year.

At the end of 2024, we made the switch to PTR Triumph and then we started making some bigger steps. At the end of 2025, we kind of understood that with the information we had on the bike, we could make more steps. And that's what happened, as proved by our podiums...

How big of a shock was it for you moving to the WorldSSP from the ASBK?

At my first test in Europe, in 2022 at Portimão, I had so much confidence and thought everything was going to go great. But after only six or seven laps, I crashed and broke my ankle. So we kind of started at the bottom, which in some ways is good since you can only go up from there. At the first race I did, at Motorland Aragon, I finished outside the points, even out of the top 20 in Race 1, and there I had a big reality check.

How did you live those moments mentally?

I just remember speaking to my dad and saying basically: "It can't be like this every weekend". The, the next race was at Assen and it already went better: we were close to the top 10, even if a few crashes in front of me helped. From there we slowly moved forward. But yeah, I just didn't want to finish that far off like in Aragon.

Did you handle it by yourself and your family, or did you rely on a mental coach?

My family played a role, but I mainly got over it by myself. Now I'm going to sound like a motivational speaker, but if you can get through this kind of challenges by yourself, you build a strong mindset and know that you can do better than a bad result. It's just about being more positive, I guess.

Now, let's move to another hot topic: the fact you are the son of Troy Bayliss, a real legend of motorcycle racing. Did it bring a lot of pressure on you?

Yes, but more when I started and when I joined World Supersport than now. I maybe felt the pressure a little bit too much in those moments, like in that race at Motorland Aragon. But as soon as I started to fight for top-10 finishes and in general for good results, it became a lot easier to handle it.

Did you ever feel as if it was a burden for you?

No. It's actually good to have a dad like him, and he helped a lot. Anyway, after the first year in World Supersport, I showed people that I am not there just because I'm a Bayliss, but I can actually ride a bike and do a great job.

Outside of motorcycle racing, do you have other passions?

I like drift cars, fishing and riding bicycles, but not much more. 

Do you go fishing with your father?

No, he has no patience (laughs, ed). I go on my own or with my girlfriend's family.

In conclusion, here is the "Thank You Moment"!

I want to thank three people mainly: my mum, my dad and Darrell Healey from GSE Racing (with this team, Troy Bayliss started racing in British Superbikes in late 1990s, ed). If it wasn't for any of them, I probably wouldn't be racing.

Palmen in Motorradsport is grateful to Oli Bayliss for his time and Ryan Lilly from Triumph Racing for organizing the interview. Best wishes to both the rider and the PTR Triumph Racing Team for the next chapters of their stories.