Record-breaking season with tenth hat-trick in final chapter as WorldSBK

· Bulega and Ducati make history. Nicolò Bulega’s triumphant run in the FIM Superbike World Championship ended with his 10^th trifecta this season. After taking home Saturday’s Race 1, the newly crowned World Champion repeated the feat in today’s Superpole Race and Race 2, bringing his season tally to 32 victories. And his team, Aruba.it Racing – Ducati, did even better, by winning all 36 races, and equalling the only previous achievement of this kind in motorcycle racing history, when MV Agusta and Giacomo Agostini won all 10 races in the 500cc World Championship and all seven races in the 350cc championship, in 1968. In Race 2 of the Pirelli Spanish Round, which brought the curtain down on the 2026 World Championship and on Pirelli’s 23 years as the Championship’s Official Sole Tyre Supplier, Bulega and Lecuona took to the track with a special silver livery inspired by the Ducati 750 Imola Desmo ridden by Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari at the 1972 Imola 200 Miles. Bulega finished ahead of his fellow Ducati riders, Lecuona and Sam Lowes. On the final lap, Lowes took advantage of the rain to snatch the podium that would otherwise have been Álvaro Bautista’s final one before retiring. All riders opted for standard-range soft SC1 front and supersoft SCX rear tyres.

· SCX was also the first choice for the Superpole Race. Starting from pole position, Nicolò Bulega proved once again unbeatable in the morning race, ahead of Iker Lecuona and Sam Lowes in an all-Ducati podium. On lap three, Bulega also set a new race lap record, stopping the timer at 1’37.196 and improving his previous 2025 record by 463 thousandths of a second. This was the newly crowned World Champion’s 11th win in 12 Superpole Races. All riders on the grid opted for the soft SC1 front and supersoft SCX rear tyre combo.

· Record-braking race times. Both Race 2 and the Superpole Race were exceptionally fast. Race 2 registered 32°C of asphalt temperature and was completed in 32’56.372, 24 seconds faster than in 2025, with an average improvement of 1.2 seconds per lap. The Superpole Race followed suit: run with an asphalt temperature of 24°C, its 10 laps were completed in 16’21.253, 11.2 seconds faster than in 2025.

· Alcoba wins in WorldSSP. WorldSSP Race 2 was red-flagged following an incident with four laps to go. Victory went to Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki), ahead of team-mate Dominic Aegerter and Matteo Ferrari (Ducati). With his 4th win of the season, the Spanish rider also secured a 3rd place in the World Championship, behind Albert Arenas (Yamaha), who crashed at the start of the race, and Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO). As in Race 1, all riders started out on soft SC1 front and supersoft SCX rear tyres.

· Artigas crowned Sportbike World Champion. Spanish rider Xavi Artigas (Kawasaki) became the first World Champion in the new WorldSPB category, which this season replaced the WorldSSP300. The 23-year-old needed only an 8th place in Race 2 to conquer the title, ahead of David Salvador, who finished fourth and was 13 points down after crashing in Race 1. Victory went to Australian rider Carter Thompson (Yamaha), who, with his second win of the season, secured a 3rd place in the championship behind Salvador. In the WorldWCR Race 2, another category using Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike SC1 compound tyres, Paula Ramos took come her second consecutive win, ahead of Beatriz Neila and Chloe Jones.

 A special finale, combining technical progress with outstanding sports achievements
 
“The final round of a season always feels special, and Jerez was even more significant, as it marked the end of Pirelli’s 23 years as Official Sole Tyre Supplier of the FIM WorldSBK. This Round confirmed the steady progress we have made throughout the season. Jerez de la Frontera is very demanding on tyres, because asphalt conditions change as temperatures rise, leading to a gradual grip reduction. Despite this, Superbike riders’ performances improved session after session: a new race lap record was set in the Superpole Race, and race times were also significantly faster, with Race 2 ending 24 seconds earlier than the previous record time, and the Superpole Race 11 seconds earlier. Average lap times improved by more than a second. These results confirm how effective the softer standard-range solutions made available to riders in this Round – the supersoft SCX rear and soft SC1 front – actually were.
On an end note, I would like to congratulate Bulega, who rounded off an outstanding season with yet another trifecta, and the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, which went on to win every single race in the Championship. We know how difficult it is to achieve consistent success in sports, and this accomplishment will certainly go down in history.
I would also like to congratulate Xavi Artigas and the MTM Kawasaki team for winning the first Sportbike World Championship. This category has already showcased some highly promising young talents right from the start, and we can’t wait to see them competing in the higher classes in the near future”.