Nicolò Bulega is the 2026 WorldSBK Champion.
After finishing runner-up in each of his first two seasons in the premier production-based racing category, the Italian has finally converted his extraordinary speed into a first Superbike World Championship title.
Bulega secured the crown with second place in Race 2 at the Cremona Circuit on Sunday, 27 September, completing the job in front of his home crowd with two rounds—and six races—still remaining.
The championship was the result of one of the most dominant seasons WorldSBK has seen. With two rounds remaining, Bulega had recorded 26 victories and four second-place finishes from the opening 30 races.
He did not need to win at Cremona. A top-five finish in the final race of the weekend would have been enough. Bulega followed teammate Iker Lecuona home in second place, securing the championship while Lecuona completed a perfect hat-trick of victories at the Italian round.
A title two years in the making
This championship did not arrive overnight.
Bulega entered WorldSBK with Aruba.it Racing – Ducati in 2024 after winning the 2023 WorldSSP Championship. He immediately established himself as a title contender, but finished runner-up in both 2024 and 2025 behind Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Those near misses made 2026 feel like a decisive season. Razgatlioglu had moved to MotoGP, Ducati introduced a new-generation Panigale V4 R and Bulega began the year as the rider expected to take control of the championship.
He did considerably more than meet those expectations.
Bulega and the new Panigale proved almost unbeatable from the opening round in Australia. His 2026 record at the moment he secured the title—26 wins and four runner-up finishes in 30 races—meant he had not finished lower than second all season.
He also delivered nine consecutive pole positions and, according to Ducati, set an outright WorldSBK lap record at every circuit visited up to the Cremona round.
How the title was won at Cremona
Cremona was not Bulega’s most dominant weekend of the season, but it demonstrated why he deserved the championship.
His Aruba.it Racing – Ducati teammate Lecuona was the rider to beat, winning Race 1, the Superpole Race and Race 2. In the final 23-lap race, Lecuona led from pole and steadily extended his advantage.
Bulega settled into second, knowing that the championship mattered more than taking unnecessary risks in pursuit of another victory. He finished 8.590 seconds behind Lecuona, while Yari Montella completed an all-Ducati podium for Barni Spark Racing Team.
Second place was more than enough. Bulega crossed the line as World Champion with six races still available at Estoril and Jerez.
The result also completed a remarkable weekend for Aruba.it Racing – Ducati. Lecuona became only the fifth rider to achieve a WorldSBK hat-trick, while Bulega delivered the title the team had been building towards since his move into the category.
A historic Italian achievement
Bulega’s championship carries special historical significance.
He is only the second Italian rider to win the World Superbike Championship, following Max Biaggi, and the first Italian to take the riders’ crown with Ducati.
He achieved it on Italian soil during Ducati’s centenary year, riding for an Italian team on a motorcycle designed and developed in Borgo Panigale.
It is also Bulega’s second world championship with Ducati after his 2023 WorldSSP crown. Ducati says that makes him the first rider to become World Champion in both WorldSSP and WorldSBK.
For Ducati, the result delivers a 17th WorldSBK Riders’ Championship. The manufacturer’s list of champions includes Raymond Roche, Doug Polen, Carl Fogarty, Troy Corser, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland, Troy Bayliss, Carlos Checa and Álvaro Bautista. Bulega now adds his name to that history.
Ducati completes the triple crown
The riders’ championship is only one part of Ducati’s 2026 success.
Ducati had already secured the Manufacturers’ Championship, while Aruba.it Racing – Ducati claimed the Teams’ title. Bulega’s victory completed the triple crown.
The new-generation Panigale V4 R has won all 30 WorldSBK races held so far in 2026. Bulega claimed 26 of those victories, while Lecuona won the remaining four.
That unbeaten record is particularly impressive because 2026 is the latest Panigale V4 R’s debut season in the championship.
Ducati now holds 22 Manufacturers’ Championships and 17 Riders’ Championships in WorldSBK. The company also lists 479 race victories and 1,266 podiums since the championship began in 1988.
From a difficult period to World Champion
Bulega’s route to the top has not been straightforward.
After early success in the Moto3 Junior World Championship, his Grand Prix career did not develop as many expected. A move into production-based racing with Ducati gave him an opportunity to rebuild.
The transformation was immediate. He became WorldSSP Champion in 2023, moved into WorldSBK the following year and finished runner-up twice before completing the journey at Cremona.
“I’m World Champion, and it still feels incredible,” Bulega said after securing the title. “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.”
That progression is one of the most compelling parts of the story. Bulega did not simply inherit a dominant motorcycle. He helped develop into the rider capable of exploiting it across an entire season.
What comes next?
Bulega still has two WorldSBK rounds remaining before beginning the next chapter of his career.
In 2027, he will step into MotoGP with VR46 Racing Team while remaining part of the Ducati family. That makes the title an almost perfect conclusion to his WorldSBK journey.
There will be pressure attached to his return to the Grand Prix paddock, particularly with MotoGP introducing new 850 cc machinery and Pirelli tyres in 2027. But he will arrive as a World Champion, a proven Ducati rider and one of the fastest production-based racers of his generation.
Torque & Throttle Take
Nicolò Bulega did not merely win the 2026 WorldSBK Championship. He dominated it.
Twenty-six victories from 30 races would be extraordinary on its own. Adding four runner-up finishes means Bulega has finished every race of the season inside the top two.
His title also rewards a rider who rebuilt his career after a difficult Grand Prix chapter, found the right environment with Ducati and steadily developed from WorldSSP champion to two-time WorldSBK runner-up and, finally, Superbike World Champion.
There are still six races left, but the most important question has already been answered.
Nicolò Bulega is the 2026 WorldSBK Champion—and he earned it in emphatic fashion.
Sources
- WorldSBK – Cremona Race 2 report
- Ducati – Nicolò Bulega and Ducati are the 2026 Superbike World Champions
