Bulega Crowned in Cremona

Nicolo Bulega sealed the WorldSBK title on home soil, capping a record-setting season even as teammate Iker Lecuona dominated the weekend

A new Italian champion, on an Italian bike, in Italy, and with the mortal deities from the very top of Ducati Corse grinning from ear to ear on Sunday afternoon, meant only one thing.

After two years of ‘loaning’ their God-given WorldSBK championship title to BMW, Bulega got the job of becoming world champion done, despite his teammate beating him in a fair fight three times.

It was really a kind of autumnal celebration for the locals, who had largely come to see one thing: Bulega become the champion on ‘their’ bike.

The gorgeous late-summer weather at Cremona, helped by the fact that Pirelli brought new tyres even with only three rounds of its WorldSBK involvement left, saw the action start fast and early on Friday. Most of that was also because most people had tested here not so long before the race weekend got underway.

Iker Lecuona (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati), and not Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati), was fastest overall on Friday, but of course the champion-elect was second quickest and, like Lecuona, also under the previous lap-record pace.

Lecuona’s 1’27.253 best lap was impressive but, in this peculiar year, even by any previous season’s standards of weirdness, beating a previous record was actually expected.

Early on, Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing Ducati) was proving to be the most potent force behind the top two Ducati riders, and put his Independent bike on the front row of the grid, ahead of even Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati) and Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team).

Pre-race weekend, the great expectation for the two Ducati gentlemen at Cremona was a close fight, but with Bulega having enough to spare to win the first race and, with it, the chance to win the title itself after Sunday’s Superpole Race.

Two falls for Bulega on Friday, the second one in particular proving to be a weird one, left him unharmed but now in a bit of jeopardy. Could he fight hard in Superpole and Race One to make sure he could win in Italy by winning, especially with top Ducati bosses floating around?

Or accept that maybe Lecuona had grown so much that he would be better off just getting the biggest job done, even from second places?

In the end, he had to wait until late to set a new record in Superpole, only for Lecuona to beat it shortly afterwards.

In Race One, there was no repeat of a great scrap between the top two Ducati riders that allowed Lecuona to take his first and very narrow WorldSBK race win. That was because Lecuona was just too fast for him, and won by 5.591 seconds, with Bulega just 1.656 seconds ahead of eventual third-placed Sam Lowes.

With Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven Ducati) fourth, once again the old Kawasaki beat the much more race-focused bimota, with Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) fifth and Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) sixth.

Unlike the bimota, which shares an engine and electronics package with the Kawasaki, Gerloff’s bike has not had two reductions in maximum fuel flow this year, so maybe that was a real factor in this particular battle.

In the Superpole Race on Sunday morning, after Lecuona had also headed up morning warm-up, he led before Bulega made a pass on lap three. Immediately afterwards, Lecuona re-passed to lead.

Earlier in the season Bulega would sooner or later re-establish his clear superiority, but not nowadays, as Lecuona kept up the pace and, with one eye on the championship itself, Bulega made no great attempt to get back ahead. There was a bigger gilded crown to try on for size later that day.

A novelty arrived in third place, but one which had been coming for some time, as Surra took his first podium in WorldSBK, and his team’s first since the heady days of Axel Bassani and being Independent Champions.

Montella had a go at passing Surra but was immediately re-passed, with the off-podium finishing order being Montella, Sam Lowes and Alex Lowes.

After a tough tangle on lap one at Turn 7, both Gerloff and Baldassarri crashed after getting tangled up with each other’s bikes on the exit. No blame or penalty was applied to either by the authorities.

Remy Gardner was only 16th and the second-best Yamaha rider on Friday at his team’s home round, after a painful crash and losing a lot of time in FP2. He got himself up to 11th and top Yamaha status in Superpole Qualifying. He would finish Race One in 12th, but a fracture of the fifth metacarpal bone in his left hand from that Friday crash ruled him out of any action on Sunday. He is now 17th overall.

With the title on the line, the final race was tense, but had little in the way of action — except for falls.

The excitement really came at the end, when the lid of the pressure cooker released the expected local glory into the atmosphere, and Bulega put on his new gold leathers.

He left the Cremona weekend with a 133-point lead and only 124 points left for Lecuona even if he wins every single remaining race.

WorldSBK has never seen anything like this particular campaign, nothing at all like it even in all those other dominant Ducati, Honda or Aprilia times.

But the racing as entertainment will generally be forgotten.

Now that Bulega has won the biggie, however, we can only hope that the final six individual races at Estoril and Jerez will be entertaining battles between two top Ducati riders, with their 2027 plans all sorted and nothing left to do in 2026 other than fight for race wins.

Nicolò Bulega
“I’m World Champion, and it still feels incredible. This win means so much to me for a number of reasons. The Supersport title was also hugely important. I was coming through a really difficult period, and that success helped me believe in myself again. When I moved up to Superbike, I knew the challenge would be even bigger, but I found a team that believed in me from the very first race and gave me everything I needed to get to this point. They saw that I still had something to give to motorcycle racing and helped me rediscover my speed. And it wasn’t just at the track – they were there for me away from the paddock too. When you’re part of a team like this, everything becomes easier. A huge thank you to everyone close to me, to my team, to Ducati and to everyone who believed in me!”

Iker Lecuona
“I’m really happy. I love this circuit, but the bike made the difference this weekend and allowed us to complete the hat-trick. It worked well in every condition, both in the cooler temperatures and in the heat, and what we found gave me incredible confidence. Now we’ll try to do it again at Estoril. It won’t be easy with Nicolò, but we’ll give it a go!”

Stefano Cecconi
“Experiencing a moment like this is something truly special. Nicolò’s world title is the result of a journey we have shared with commitment and dedication. From the moment he joined our project, we saw important qualities in him: talent, speed and determination, combined with a level of maturity that has continued to grow. This season tells a story that goes far beyond the results. It reflects the quiet yet incredibly effective work of so many people within our team and at Borgo Panigale, the attention to every detail, and the strength of a group that remained united and focused throughout every stage of the championship. Nicolò approached every race weekend with great intelligence, turning pressure into energy and proving, race after race, that he fully deserved this achievement. This journey also reflects the strength of the relationship between Aruba.it and Ducati, which goes far beyond the sporting dimension of our partnership. It is a shared project that brings together two examples of Italian excellence, united by expertise, vision and the ability to innovate in an extremely competitive environment. I would like to thank every member of our team and everyone at Borgo Panigale who worked to achieve this extraordinary result. A special thank you goes to Claudio Domenicali, Luigi Dall’Igna, Mauro Grassilli and Marco Zambenedetti for their support, vision and constant contribution to a technical and sporting project of the highest level. Today, we celebrate together a world title that is the result of the continuity of a path we have pursued with conviction and ambition.”

Luigi Dall’Igna
“Nicolò’s Superbike World Championship title is a source of enormous pride and satisfaction for Ducati. Seeing a young Italian rider grow within our project, develop season after season and achieve such a prestigious goal is something truly special. Nicolò has delivered an extraordinary championship, demonstrating speed, talent, determination, and impressive maturity in how he managed every situation. This success is the result of outstanding teamwork. I would like to congratulate Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, all the men and women in Borgo Panigale who contributed to developing the Panigale V4 R, and everyone involved in this project. Nicolò Bulega triumphs in the 2026 Superbike World Championship. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider claims the world title aboard the Ducati Panigale V4 R. The results achieved this year, culminating in the Triple Crown, confirm the strength of the Ducati method, the quality of our work and our ability to keep improving without ever losing sight of our objective. My sincerest congratulations go to Nicolò for a thoroughly deserved title, secured with authority. I am certain this is just another important chapter in a career that still has so much more to tell.”

Remy Gardner
“In Race One, I had a very good getaway, finding myself in a good position, and I tried to defend as much as I could to maintain my place. Unfortunately, I’m still feeling a bit sore from yesterday, so it wasn’t easy to push, but it was a decent result in the end.”

2026 WORLDSBK STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 10 OF 12