Bulega triumphant on Saturday at Aragón on 2026 Pirelli standard tyres

· Bulega remains unbeaten. Nicolò Bulega’s remarkable run continued today at Motorland Aragón, host of the sixth round of the FIM WorldSBK Championship, as he claimed his sixteenth victory of the season, maintaining his perfect winning score for the season. The Italian rider led an all-Ducati podium, joined by teammate Álvaro Bautista and Sam Lowes. On a grid where every rider opted for the standard SC0 soft rear tyre from Pirelli’s range, the three podium finishers selected the standard SC2 medium front, a choice also made by four other riders among the 22 starters. Nine riders chose the SC1 soft front, while six opted for the E1164 development soft front, making its second appearance of the season. Completed in 32’46.379, the race was five seconds faster than the corresponding 2025 contest, despite being run with track temperatures 9°C higher, equating to an average lap-time improvement of 0.270 seconds.

· SCX delivers another record-breaking performance. Earlier in the day, during the WorldSBK Superpole session that determined the starting grid, Bulega lowered the Aragón all-time lap record twice within a matter of minutes. Using the standard SCX supersoft rear tyre, he first recorded a time of 1’47.284, shaving 0.048 seconds off the previous benchmark of 1’47.332 that he had set last year. On his second attempt, he broke the 1’47 barrier altogether, establishing a new all-time lap record of 1’46.836, an improvement of 0.496 seconds over the previous mark. Lecuona also broke the 2025 record, securing second place on the grid with a lap of 1’47.312.

· The other classes. WorldSSP Race 1 produced a maiden victory in the category for Alessandro Zaccone (Ducati), who finished ahead of Spain’s Albert Arenas (Yamaha) and Britain’s Tom Booth-Amos (Triumph). Like almost the entire field, the top three used Pirelli’s standard SC1 soft front and SC0 soft rear combination. The only exception was Denmark’s Simon Jespersen, who opted for the SC2 medium front. In a World Sportbike Race 1 shortened to five laps following an incident, David Salvador (Kawasaki) took victory. The category uses Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres in SC1 compound at both the front and rear. Meanwhile, the opening race of the third round of the Yamaha R3 World Cup was won by Italy’s Emanuele Pastore.

· Very high temperatures. The Aragón Round is proving to be one of the hottest weekends of the season so far, as highlighted by the 58°C track temperature recorded during yesterday’s WorldSBK FP2 session, with ambient temperatures reaching 35°C. Conditions remained particularly demanding for today’s races, with WorldSBK Race 1 taking place in 46°C track temperatures and 30°C ambient temperature.

Standard compounds perform strongly despite Aragón’s high temperatures
 
“The feedback gathered over these first two days confirms the validity of the tyre allocation choices made for Aragón. Despite temperatures being higher than the seasonal average and an asphalt surface that, although resurfaced in 2024, has already shown a significant loss of grip, the tyres have delivered consistently strong performance. After a Friday affected by track temperatures close to 60°C and a circuit that was still lacking rubber, the natural evolution of the track allowed lap times to improve significantly.
In Superpole, the new standard SCX enabled Bulega to beat last year’s lap record by half a second, confirming its outstanding performance even under particularly demanding conditions. In Race 1, the new SC0 rear tyre delivered both competitiveness and consistency, contributing to a race time almost five seconds faster than last year’s equivalent race, despite considerably higher temperatures and therefore less favourable conditions.
Positive feedback also came from the front tyre options, with all three available specifications being used in the race. Although the podium finishers all opted for the standard SC2, both the SC1 and the E1164 development specification demonstrated a strong level of competitiveness”.