Nicolo Bulega had a season to remember for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad. He won the vast majority of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship races in 2026, he claimed all but one pole and he broke several records along the way – right up to his final race at the Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto, Andalucia.
Out of a possible 744 points, Bulega scored 726. He dropped points only in Race 1 at Donington Park and the three races at Cremona, losing 18 points to Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati). That 726 is a new record for points in one campaign, and Bulega is the first rider to hit the 700-point barrier in WorldSBK history.
Out of 612 laps raced in 2026, Bulega led for 499 of them. Lecuona led for 104, Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) for 4 and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) for 3. Ducati claimed every victory this season, for the second time in their history, having last done it in 2003. They also claimed every pole, repeating their achievement from 1992.
The #11 racked up 92 podiums from 108 races, putting him tenth on the all-time list. His tally of 56 fastest laps from his 108 races puts him fifth on the all-time list, one behind Alvaro Bautista and two behind Noriyuki Haga. Bulega ended his WorldSBK career on 52 wins, level with Troy Bayliss, having had 20 prior to the start of this season.
The Italian has finished on the podium in 49 consecutive races, smashing the previous record. Previously, Colin Edwards and Toprak Razgatlioglu had jointly held the record, with 25. Bulega took a podium in every race in 2026, securing 36 in total. The previous record for rostrums in one campaign was held by Jonathan Rea, when he took 34 in 2019.
Bulega took the record for most wins in a single season with 32. Previously, it was 27, held by Alvaro Bautista from 2019. The Italian rider set the fastest lap in 31 races this year, a new record, while the other riders to set one were Lecuona, with 4, and Lowes with 1.
The #11 set a new record for a winning streak when he won 25 races in a row, including the final four from 2025. The previous record was 13, held by Razgatlioglu, who achieved this in both 2024 and 2025. In three seasons, ‘Bulegas’ took 20 poles, finishing seventh in the all-time list, one behind four-time Champion Carl Fogarty.
Pole at Jerez was Bulega’s 11th of the season, tying him with Ben Spies for poles in one year, which the American achieved in 2009. From Jerez 2025 to Magny-Cours 2026, Bulega took every pole consecutively. That 10 in a row is an all-time record, as Rea held the previous record with 8.
