In his final WorldSBK round and with the championship long sewn up, Nicolo Bulega signed off with another treble of race wins to leave his mark on the series he has made his own since the departure of Toprak Razgatlioglu.  An emotional weekend saw Bulega and two other successful riders bow out of the Superbike World Championship and the Pirelli era come to an end at the Spanish Round in Jerez.

 

Race 1

Bulega’s biggest challenger at the start of Race 1 was Sam Lowes who had impressively outqualified Iker Lecuona and the rest of the field to start second.  After a bold attempt at the first corner, after half a lap Bulega was able to race clear as Sam settled a couple of seconds back en route to his best WorldSBK finish to date.

Lecuona had a frustrating race that required some stern defence against Yari Montella in the opening stages, after which the damage was done as the Spaniard had to settle for third, and was arguably only the fourth fastest Ducati.  The man setting the timing sheets alive and reminding everyone what he was capable of was Alvaro Bautista who muscled his way up to fourth in what could be his final outing in the World Championship.

The top Yamaha was a miserable 13th after Xavi Vierge’s bike went up in flames but it was even worse for BMW as their top finisher Petrucci (like Bautista racing in possibly his final WorldSBK round) was 17th after Oliveria retired.  Alex Lowes suffered a painful descent down the order, slowly falling to eighth behind a wave of Ducati’s although he once again finished as the best of the rest.

Tommy Bridewell could not quite make it eight Ducati’s in the top eight and was stuck battling Alex Lowes’ teammate Axel Bassani behind.  Behind those two, Jake Dixon had another solid race on the Honda in 11th while teammate Chantra missed out on a point by half a second.

Race 1 Results

 

Tissot Superpole Race

Lecuona avenged his poor start from yesterday and barged his past Sam Lowes towards the end of the first lap for second.  The latter was caught out by the aggressive move and the riders behind had to bunch up in avoiding action.

Unsurprisingly Bulega was already clear enough by this point to settle into a comfortable lead although Lecuona – like Sam Lowes the previous day – was at least able to keep him in sight a couple of seconds up the road.  The gap did start to come down towards the end of the 10-lap affair but it was too late for Lecuona to do anything about his dominant Ducati teammate.

Montella did not have the pace to challenge Sam Lowes for the podium but stayed a second clear of Alex Lowes.  This was just as well as Bautista repeated his charge up the field, only reaching sixth and less than a second behind the Bimota in fifth.

Baldassari followed Bautista home while Bridewell lost out to Alberto Surra on the last lap.  The two banged bikes repeatedly through the first three corners of the final lap which allowed an opportunistic Vierge to scythe through for ninth and book his place on the third row of the grid for Race Two as Bridewell fell outside the crucial top nine.

Tissot Superpole Race Results

 

Race 2

Lecuona secured the holeshot to turn one as Bautista made the most of his improved starting position to leap up to third.  After just six corners, Bulega was back in front and took his 32nd victory from 36 races in the 2026 season – yet another record tumbling at the close of his WorldSBK career.

Sam Lowes snuck through on his fast-starting brother at the end of lap one and then Alex fell backwards just like the race the previous day.  Baldassari and Montella kept each other occupied in a close battle for fifth throughout the race while Lowes settled ahead of teammate Bassani.

The two Bimota riders were clear of an entertaining battle for ninth between Surra, Vierge, Bridewell and Oliveira, the latter contending for the top 10 for the first time this weekend.  And then just five laps from the end, rain started to fall but thankfully the whole 22-bike grid made it home in the final race of the year.

The rain would prove terminal for two-time champion Bautista’s hopes of a fairytale podium in what looks like his final WorldSBK race.  Sam Lowes moved past in the closing laps for his third podium of the weekend and it was a fantastic way for his and MarcVDS Ducati’s season to end but it was deeply disappointing for Bautista to lose out in front of his home crowd, while Petrucci came home a woeful 20th in what is at the very least his last race BMW.

Bulega wrapped up the most wins, podiums, pole positions, points, fastest laps, consecutive wins, consecutive podiums and consecutive poles ever in the history of the Superbike World Championship and his redemption arc was finally complete.  Much later than planned Bulega is now off to MotoGP and back into the arms of Valentino Rossi, leaving behind an unforgettable legacy after an unforgettable three years in WorldSBK.

Race 2 Results

 

Championship Standings

Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK