Bulega Wins 2026 World Superbike Championship

Ducati claims the Triple Crown of Rider, Team, and Manufacturer titles

It's felt like a foregone conclusion for a while, but now it's official: Nicolo Bulega is the 2026 FIM Superbike World Champion. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider only needed a top-five finish in Race 2 at Cremona to seal the title in front of home fans, and second place behind teammate Iker Lecuona did the job with six races still on the calendar.

The stats are simply staggering: Bulega has won 26 of the opening 30 races aboard the Ducati Panigale V4 R, taking runner-up honors in the other four, and he has stood on the podium at every single race this year. He built an all-time win streak of 25 consecutive victories, the four to close out 2025 plus 21 in a row through 2026, nearly doubling the previous record of 13 that Toprak Razgatlioglu set twice. He also strung together ten straight poles counting Jerez 2025, another record, before finally being beaten in the Superpole race at Cremona.

Bulega is now the second Italian to win a WSBK title, joining Max Biaggi, who won championships in 2010 and 2012.

"Finally, another Italian!" Biaggi said to WorldSBK.com. "I was feeling really lonely. Now, with him, I'm feeling much happier. Congrats to him because he's dominated the season and it's good that he's coming to MotoGP after his tremendous year. I can't wait to see him in that Championship."

Bulega is also the only rider ever to hold both the World Supersport and Superbike championships, having taken the WorldSSP title in 2023, again within the same Aruba.it Racing – Ducati structure but on the Panigale V2.

"When I won the [Supersport] title, I started to believe in myself again," Bulega said amid the Cremona celebrations. "When I came to WSBK, I knew it would be difficult, but I found a team that always believed in me from the first race."

Ducati and Aruba.it won the Triple Crown, sweeping the Riders', Teams', and Manufacturers' titles this season, and the marque's 17th Riders' title.

Lecuona capped the weekend with his maiden WSBK hat-trick, topping Superpole and winning both races. The championship now heads to Estoril on October 10-11, and the season closer at Jerez, the following weekend.

---

Become a Motorcycle.com insider. Get the latest motorcycle news first by subscribing to our newsletter.