Bulega completes Hungarian hat-trick

Ducati gun completes Balaton Park rout with 16th straight win, Gardner battles through for top 10 finish

Although his team-mate pushed him almost all the way in the second 21-lap race of the Balaton race weekend, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) won his 12th straight race from the start of this season, a record of domination no rider has ever managed before.

His latest triple winning prowess means Bulega has won 12 races in succession on the new Ducati V4-R, and 16 consecutive races when you consider his wins from 2025. The previous record run for the latter was 13.

Iker Lecuona (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) was second in the final Balaton Race, while the Independent Ducati rider fight for third place went to Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team).

Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven Ducati) closed in on Montella but could not quite catch him at the flag, but his fourth place was another impressive ride in any case.

Even more noteworthy was a season best of fifth Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team), who picked off riders on nominally faster machines. This was his best Kawasaki finish since he joined them in 2025.

Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati) fought his way up to sixth, overtaking long time strong front runner Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing Ducati).

Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing) stuck in a strong performance, but went from the top four to a final eighth as other riders showed greater pace in the later stages of the 21-lap contest.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was top R1 battler in ninth and Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was tenth. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) and Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) crashed out.

Neither BMW rider made it to the Race Two grid, as Petrucci’s left hip injury suffered this morning caused his withdrawal from the long Sunday race.

Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) remains in hospital for checks on his shoulder and concussion injuries, but he is conscious and it appears at this stage that things are not as bad as they could have been, given the severity of his crash.

In the championship battle, Bulega has a perfect 248 points already, Lecuona has 166, Sam Lowes 99 and Oliveira 85.

In the earlier Superpole race, a nasty crash for Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) at T6 on lap one of the sprint race saw a red flag, the rider himself taken to hospital and an eight lap restart called.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) was given a double long-lap penalty for his part in a collision that also initially included Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati), for the ‘real’ Superpole Race. Oliveira suffered left shoulder and concussion injuries in the crash.

To the surprise of no-one, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) won the race, by 0.894 seconds from his team-mate Iker Lecuona (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) and privateer Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven Ducati). This was Bulega’s 15th consecutive win in WorldSBK.

In another Ducati benefit of a race, Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team), was fourth, Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) fifth and Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing Ducati) sixth.

Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) was top non-Panigale rider again, in seventh, just under one second clear of Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team). Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing) was the seventh Ducati rider inside the top nine places, with Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) leading home a procession of Yamahas interrupted only by yet another Ducati. Locatelli got back up to 13th palce after his two long lap penalties.

In the championship standings, Nicolo Bulega leads the way on 248 points after a flawless start to the season, with Iker Lecuona his closest challenger on 166. Sam Lowes sits third on 99 points, just ahead of Miguel Oliveira on 85, while Yari Montella rounds out the top five on 82.

Nicolò Bulega
“Another fantastic weekend that makes me very happy. It’s no secret that this is the track least suited to my riding style. Achieving these results, therefore, gives me great satisfaction. I’d like to thank the team, who are doing an extraordinary job. See you at Most.”

Iker Lecuona
“I’m pleased with these results, which have contributed to another extraordinary weekend for the team. Could we have done more? Yes, of course. Physically, I wasn’t 100% due to the stomach problem I had on Thursday, but the feeling improved session by session and that gives me great confidence.”

Remy Gardner
“Overall, it was a positive end to the weekend. We made some solid improvements from yesterday, and we need to focus on the positives. In the Superpole Race, we were close to the top nine, which would have helped for Race 2, but it wasn’t a bad result. In Race 2, I was able to maintain a good pace until the end, which is encouraging, and finishing ninth shows good progress considering where we started. We’ll aim to carry this momentum into Most with confidence, as it’s a track where we’ve performed well in the past.”

WORLDSBK BALATON PARK RACE 2

2026 WORLDSBK STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4