by CHEN Xiaotong

Chinese motorcycle startup ZXMOTO has won two races in the Supersport (SSP) class of the World Superbike Championship (WSBK), marking the first-ever race win in the SSP class for a Chinese manufacturer.

French rider Valentin Debise took victory in the second race of the Portugal round on March 29 on ZXMOTO's 820RR-RS, after winning the opening race a day earlier.

The win breaks a decades-long dominance of European and Japanese manufacturers such as Ducati and Yamaha.

WSBK uses production-based motorcycles, making it a key showcase for manufacturers.

The result marks a rapid turnaround for the team after it finished 19th and 24th in the season opener in Australia in February.

The company was founded by ZHANG Xue, born in 1987 in Hunan province, who started as a repair apprentice and built his business starting with 20,000 yuan in Chongqing, later co-founding motorcycle brand Kove Moto.

He founded ZXMOTO in 2024, launching its first model in 2025, with annual sales topping 25,000 units.

The racing success has quickly translated into commercial traction. Orders for the 820RR reached 1,986 units within 12 hours of opening reservations, according to publicly available data.

ZXMOTO remains loss-making. The company reported output value of 750 million yuan in 2025, with research and development spending accounting for 9.33% of revenue, and a net loss of 22.78 million yuan.

Zhang said the company completed a Series A funding round in January 2026, raising about 90 million yuan and implying a post-money valuation of 1.09 billion yuan.