Nicolo Bulega is your 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Champion. The Aruba.it Racing - Ducati rider needed nothing more than a top five finish in Race 2 at the Cremona Circuit during the EICMA Italian Round, and he delivered exactly that to claim the crown with six races to spare, finishing second behind his teammate.
Out in front, Iker Lecuona put on a masterclass to complete a Cremona hat-trick. Starting from pole, the #7 grabbed the holeshot and never looked back, with Bulega slotting into second early on after fighting off an opening charge from Motocorsa Racing's Alberto Surra. Lecuona stretched his advantage to the one-second mark by the end of Lap 6 and relentlessly built it out to over four seconds by Lap 16. Crossing the line first, Lecuona secured his first WorldSBK hat-trick and joined an elite group of riders to achieve the feat, leaving Bulega 8.590s behind in second to clinch the championship with 602 points.
The battle for the final step of the podium proved fierce right behind the factory Ducatis. On Lap 3, Yari Montella of the Barni Spark Racing Team carved past Surra at Turn 11 to take third, holding off his fellow Italian for the remainder of the 23-lap race to finish 12.724s behind the winner. Surra brought his machine home in fourth to cap off a brilliant weekend following his maiden Superpole Race podium.
Drama unfolded further down the order as the兄弟 battle between Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) boiled over. Sam attempted a move on Alex at Turn 13 midway through the race before sliding out at the final corner, eventually retiring a few laps later after re-joining at the back. That crash promoted Honda HRC's Jake Dixon into the top six, sealing Honda's first top-six result since Xavi Vierge finished fifth in Race 2 at Jerez last year.
Elsewhere, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) settled his ongoing rivalry with Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) by making a successful pass at Turn 7 on Lap 19 to take seventh, right where the pair had crashed earlier in the morning. Baldassarri also picked off Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) on Lap 17 to push Bassani down to ninth at his home round. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) fended off GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team rider Stefano Manzi by just four tenths on the final lap to claim tenth.
Not everyone saw the chequered flag in a punishing Race 2. Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) suffered an early technical retirement, Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) crashed out at Turn 10 on Lap 2 after a bright start to fifth, and Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates) went down at the same corner on Lap 5. Xavi Vierge also saw his points hopes vanish when he came off his Yamaha R1 machine at Turn 13 on Lap 17.
