2026 in numbers: key stats and tallies after a WorldSBK campaign like none other

The 39th iteration of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship brought out all the stops and put on a show for fans all season long, delivering the most historically dominant campaign the Championship has ever seen. Long-thought-unassailable records were shattered by unparalleled consistency in a season that featured twists, turns, and plenty of unforgettable racing.

Ducati won every single race of the season, marking only the second time such a feat has ever been accomplished after the Italian manufacturer did it back in 2003. In addition to winning all 36 races, Ducati riders landed on the podium a cumulative 101 times, an unprecedented record in WorldSBK. With Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and teammate Iker Lecuona taking each of the season's pole positions, 2026 marked the first time since Doug Polen's 1992 Ducati pole sweep that a single manufacturer took every pole in a season. Bulega also matched Ben Spies' record for most poles in a season with 11, finishing the year with 32 career WorldSBK front-row finishes after going 12 for 12 in 2026 Superpole sessions.

Nicolo Bulega shattered Jonathan Rea's single-season points record with 726 in 2026 compared to Rea's prior record of 663 set back in 2019. Bulega led 499 laps this season out of 612, up from Razgatlioglu's 2025 total of 323, and became the fastest rider ever to reach 50 WorldSBK wins, doing so in just 106 races and beating Bayliss's standing record of 150. Having never shared the podium before 2026, Bulega and teammate Iker Lecuona placed 1-2 on the podium 25 times; that tally puts them at fourth all time in identical 1-2s despite accumulating their figure over the course of a single season. Apart from the factory Ducati teammates, only Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) were able to lead a lap in 2026, with six for Montella and three for Lowes. The year featured just two different riders winning races this season, the first time so few riders have stood on the top step since 2002.

Other machines and riders carved out their own notable statistics amidst the red wave. Multiple Bimota riders finished on the podium this season with Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) and teammate Axel Bassani sharing the rostrum at Phillip Island in the Tissot Superpole Race, marking the first time multiple Bimota riders were on a single-season podium since Giancarlo Falappa and Mike Baldwin in 1989. Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) set the record this season for the most overtakes from one's grid position, improving 14 positions at Phillip Island's Race 2 after posting 13 in Race 1. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) was metronomic in Tissot Superpole sessions, never sliding farther down than the third row all season, including a further five second-row starts and a P2 grid start for Race 1 at Balaton Park.

The front row has proved invaluable like never before over the last two seasons, as riders starting from the front two grid spots have won the last 60 races. The record began after Race 2 at Assen in 2025, when Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) won from fourth place, easily beating the previous record of only 21 in a row. Meanwhile, two-time WorldSBK Champion Alvaro Bautista, currently without a ride for 2027, finished the 2026 season with two near misses for the podium, holding a towering 129 podiums (4th most all time) and 63 wins (3rd most all time).

Looking ahead, 2026 is the penultimate year of WorldSBK racing at Phillip Island, as the 2027 calendar will see the Championship race at China's Shanghai International Circuit, which will become the 55th different track World Superbike competes at.