CFMoto Makes TT Debut: First Chinese Motorcycle on the Mountain Course

• CFMoto enters the new Sportbike class at the 2026 TT with team Moto Twelve Racing and the triple-cylinder 675SR-R
• Riders are experienced Northern Irishman Shaun Anderson (54 TT starts, 130-mph club member) and 28-year-old Manx pilot Jamie Cringle
• It marks the first time a motorcycle under a Chinese brand logo will officially tackle the 37.73-mile Mountain Course

The Isle of Man TT 2026 takes place from May 25 to June 6, and this year the event brings a remarkable first. CFMoto will become the first Chinese motorcycle manufacturer to officially compete under its own brand name on the Mountain Course. Team Moto Twelve Racing is fielding the CFMoto 675SR-R in the newly created Sportbike class, having signed two riders who bring both course experience and development expertise to the table.

The New Sportbike Class at the TT

The Sportbike category is a new addition for the 2026 TT, replacing the previous Supertwin class. The regulations allow for a significantly broader range of machinery than before. Alongside established twins like the Paton S1-R, the Aprilia RS 660 and the Kawasaki ER-6, machines from the British Superbike Sportbike Championship are now eligible for the first time. These include the Triumph Daytona 660, the Yamaha R7, the Suzuki GSX-8R, the Honda Hornet 750 and the CFMoto 675SR-R. Two races are scheduled in this category, running under Carole Nash sponsorship.

For many of these motorcycles, it will be their very first outing on the 37.73-mile Mountain Course. That sets the new class fundamentally apart from the established categories, where years of experience with specific machine types already exist.

CFMoto 675SR-R: From the BSB Paddock to the Island

The CFMoto 675SR-R is no unknown quantity in British racing. The triple-cylinder sportbike has already made an impression in the Pirelli National Sportbike Championship. Scottish rider Adon Davie rode the machine to eighth overall in the 2025 season and achieved a second-place finish at the Brands Hatch finale. These short-circuit results provide a solid foundation, even though the Mountain Course presents an entirely different challenge.

Team Moto Twelve Racing has built a reputation for machine development and race performance across several seasons in the BSB paddock. The step from short circuits to the Isle of Man’s road racing course, however, is enormous. The physical and technical demands of the Mountain Course have little in common with what happens on a conventional circuit.

The Rider Duo: Anderson and Cringle

For the TT debut, Moto Twelve has signed two pilots who bring different strengths to the project. Shaun Anderson is a 42-year-old Northern Irishman from Banbridge who has 54 TT starts to his name and belongs to the exclusive club of riders who have lapped the Mountain Course at an average speed of over 130 mph (approximately 209 km/h). His personal best stands at 130.703 mph, set during his eighth-place finish in the 2024 Senior Race. Throughout his TT career, Anderson has primarily raced Suzuki machinery in the big classes but has also gained experience in the Supertwin class, where he finished 15th and 19th in 2025, with a best lap speed of 114.671 mph.

Beyond his riding experience, Anderson also has a background in technical development, which the team says makes him particularly well suited to building a new manufacturer project on the Mountain Course. In addition to the CFMoto entry in the Sportbike class, Anderson will also compete at the 2026 TT for the German-run team Penz13.com on a BMW M1000RR in the Superbike, Superstock and Senior races. He joins a distinguished list of riders who have previously raced for Rico Penzkofer’s team, including Michael Rutter, Gary Johnson, Dan Kneen, Davey Todd and Danny Webb.

Anderson describes 2026 as a fresh start: “2026 is going to be a big year for me, the start of a new project with a new team and manufacturer.” On the CFMoto venture, he says: “Bringing a new manufacturer to the Mountain Course is something special. Our focus is on building consistency and developing the bike throughout the entire week before going into the two races.”

Jamie Cringle complements the team with an entirely different asset: local knowledge. The 28-year-old Manx pilot was born and raised on the Isle of Man and enters his fifth TT season in 2026. His only previous outing in the Supertwin class came in 2023, when he finished 23rd in the first race but retired from the second with a technical issue. With the racing mileage accumulated since then, Cringle is expected to take a step forward in the new Sportbike class. Working alongside the far more experienced Anderson should accelerate both his personal development and the team’s understanding of the overall package.

Cringle is enthusiastic: “Born and raised on the Isle of Man, this is a huge opportunity for me and one I’m incredibly grateful for. I’m really looking forward to learning more about the bike and working with the MotoTwelve team. I’m already excited to ride the CFMoto 675SR-R on the Mountain Course.”

The Team Principal: Eddie Roberts and His TT Past

Behind Team Moto Twelve stands Eddie Roberts, a team owner and racing director who can look back on an impressive career in motorcycle racing. Roberts once competed at Grand Prix level and in 1975, together with Charlie Williams on a Honda 500, won the Production TT. Moto Twelve’s TT debut marks his return to road racing on the island, having not been active at the TT in an official capacity since the late 1980s.

Roberts offers a measured assessment of the project: “Coming back to the TT for the first time since the late 1980s is a really exciting project for me and Team MotoTwelve-CFMoto. We have two strong riders in Shaun and Jamie, and this year is all about building a solid foundation and planning for the future.”

AIS Resources serves as the team’s title sponsor, with chairman Martyn Element also commenting on the partnership and describing the TT as one of the most exciting sporting events in the world.

Why This Debut Is Historic, Yet Not Without Precedent

The fact that CFMoto is the first Chinese manufacturer to officially compete under its own logo at the TT is undoubtedly a remarkable milestone. However, there is a little-known footnote in TT history that adds some nuance. As early as 2013, machines featuring CFMoto technology appeared on the Mountain Course. British importer WK Bikes sourced motorcycles from China at the time and entered them in the twin-cylinder category. While those machines carried CFMoto DNA, they never raced under the Chinese manufacturer’s logo. That makes the 2026 entry the official debut of the brand, even though the technology had, strictly speaking, already been on the island before.

CFMoto’s Growing Motorsport Ambitions

The TT campaign is just one building block in CFMoto’s increasingly broad motorsport strategy. The Chinese brand has achieved a remarkable rise in international racing over recent years. In 2024, CFMoto won the Moto3 World Championship with David Alonso, marking the brand’s greatest success on the world stage to date. More recently, CFMoto has been linked to a potential entry into MotoGP.

In parallel, CFMoto is advancing the development of its flagship superbike, the V4 SR-RR. The motorcycle was first presented as a prototype at EICMA 2025 in Milan and was ridden publicly for the first time in April 2026 at CFMoto Day at the Chengdu Tianfu International Circuit in southwest China. CFMoto quotes a power output of 207 bhp (approximately 210 PS / 154 kW) for the V4 SR-RR. The machine is intended to be positioned as the brand’s flagship superbike and could potentially see action in the Superbike World Championship (WSBK). For MotoGP, however, the four-cylinder 1,000 cc engine would be too large, as the displacement limit drops to 850 cc from 2027.

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➜ This article is part of our comprehensive overview: Isle of Man TT 2026: The Complete Overview – Schedule, Riders, Teams & Results. Find all key information on this topic in one place.