Nicolò Bulega and Ducati are the 2026 Superbike World Champions!

• Nicolò Bulega is the 2026 Superbike World Champion: the first Italian rider to win the Riders' Title with Ducati
• A record-breaking season for the Panigale V4 R, undefeated in its debut year in WorldSBK
• Ducati and the Aruba Team secure the triple crown of Riders', Manufacturers' and Teams' Titles, capping off a year of total dominance
• Claudio Domenicali, Ducati CEO: “A success with a truly Italian flavour. Together with Nicolò, we brought the new Panigale V4 R to the track, facing the most ambitious goal right from its debut: to be immediately at the top. Today, we can say that it has been the benchmark bike of this season.”

Cremona Circuit/Borgo Panigale, 27 September 2026 – Nicolò Bulega is the 2026 Superbike World Champion with Ducati!

The Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Team rider claimed his first world title in the premier production-based motorcycle racing category, taking the new Panigale V4 R to the top of the world. The second-place finish in Race 2 at the Cremona Circuit allowed Bulega to clinch the title with two rounds to spare, crowning a season of championship-wide dominance.

A historic achievement, coming right in the year of Ducati's Centenary, with Bulega becoming the first Italian rider to win the Superbike World Championship with Ducati, celebrating the title in front of his home crowd. Nicolò and the Panigale V4 R thus become the protagonists of an all-Italian triumph, the result of the perfect synergy between the talent of the Emilia-Romagna rider, the work of the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Team and the supremacy of the Panigale V4 R, designed and developed in Borgo Panigale.

That the Riders' Title would be claimed by Ducati had already been a mathematical certainty since Donington, when, with four rounds still to go, Bulega and Lecuona were the only two riders left in contention for the World Championship. At Cremona, Nicolò's success, combined with Iker's three victories over the weekend, thus completes an extraordinary season for Ducati and further strengthens the Borgo Panigale manufacturer's record in WorldSBK. Present in the Championship since its inaugural edition in 1988, Ducati is the most successful manufacturer in the history of the category, with a record that includes 17 Riders' Titles, 22 Manufacturers' Titles, 479 victories and 1,266 podiums. Figures that reflect the Company's racing DNA and technological excellence, and its longstanding commitment to competing at the highest level and transferring the expertise gained on the racetrack to the production motorcycles destined for Ducati enthusiasts.

Claudio Domenicali, Ducati CEO: “There are victories whose meaning goes beyond the sporting result, and this is certainly one of them. Nicolò is the first Italian rider to become Superbike World Champion with Ducati, and he has done it in front of his home crowd, in the year in which we celebrate our centenary. It is difficult to imagine a more beautiful way to experience this moment! What makes me even prouder is thinking about everything that lies behind it. We have seen Nicolò grow with us, win in Supersport, establish himself in Superbike and become the extraordinary rider he is today. And together with him, we brought the new Panigale V4 R to the track, designed and developed in Borgo Panigale, facing the most ambitious goal right from its debut: to be immediately at the top, and that is exactly what happened. It won every race, and already at Donington, with four rounds still to go, the fight for the Riders' Title had become an all-Ducati battle, despite having to manage penalties that became progressively more severe over the course of the championship. My thanks go to all the women and men of Ducati, Ducati Corse and Aruba.it for making possible a result that speaks, better than any words, to the quality of the work we have done together. And once again, well done Nicolò, you are World Champion! Enjoy this moment because you have earned it. This title will forever remain an important part of our history, and it is a wonderful feeling to know that from next year we will continue this journey together, with an exciting new chapter for Nicolò in the MotoGP World Championship.”

Nicolò Bulega: a record-breaking season

Bulega has put his stamp on the 2026 Superbike World Championship from the very first races. The Emilia-Romagna talent, in perfect harmony with the Panigale V4 R, established himself as the rider to beat thanks to an extraordinary consistency of results. With two rounds remaining, his tally stands at 26 victories from 30 races, with four second-place finish, all behind teammate Iker Lecuona in four Aruba.it Racing - Ducati one-two. 

The 2026 season has been marked by performances that showcase Bulega's extraordinary speed: 9 consecutive pole positions and an all-time lap record set at every circuit raced up to the Cremona round.

For Bulega, this is his second World Championship title with Ducati, following his Supersport crown in 2023. An achievement that makes him the first rider in history to become World Champion in both categories and delivers the Borgo Panigale manufacturer the 17th Riders' Title in its WorldSBK history.

The Panigale V4 R on top of the world

Alongside Bulega, the star of this triumphant season is the Panigale V4 R, the ultimate expression of the technical and sporting heritage that deeply links Ducati to the Superbike World Championship.

The latest descendant of a lineage that began in 2001, this Panigale V4 R brings the technological excellence developed at Borgo Panigale to the track, featuring solutions such as MotoGP-derived Corner Sidepods and the Ducati Racing Gearbox - innovations introduced for the first time on a road-legal Ducati motorcycle. A concrete example of the Ducati philosophy: developing solutions at the highest level of racing competition and transferring them to motorcycles destined for Ducati enthusiasts.

This continuity between product and racing has given rise to an unprecedented winning streak in WorldSBK over the last five years. In 2026, the new generation took up the legacy of the bike that had dominated the Championship since 2022, establishing itself as the undisputed leader right from its debut and remained unbeaten throughout the season. With 30 wins in 30 races, the Panigale V4 R secured its fifth consecutive Manufacturers' Title, bringing Ducati's total to 22 titles won across the Championship's 38 editions.

For this new generation, success extends beyond the track results to include design – which was already recognized in 2025 with three prestigious international awards: the Red Dot Award, the iF Design Award and the Good Design Award. A record of achievements that, in just two years, has seen the seventh generation of Ducati supersport motorcycles distinguish itself both on and off track.

The dynamic and beauty videos presenting the new Panigale V4 R are available on the Ducati YouTube channel. The press kit, containing product information and all images of the motorcycle, is available on Ducati Media House upon registration.

The figures behind a winning legacy:

• 479 victories
• 1,266 podiums – a record unmatched by any manufacturer in any category of motorcycle racing
• The Panigale V4 R, along with the 916 and 999, is the only motorcycle to have won both the Riders' and Manufacturers' titles in the debut season

• 17 Riders' Titles

• Raymond Roche - 1990
• Doug Polen - 1991, 1992
• Carl Fogarty - 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999
• Troy Corser - 1996
• Neil Hodgson - 2003
• James Toseland - 2004
• Troy Bayliss - 2001, 2006, 2008
• Carlos Checa - 2011
• Álvaro Bautista - 2022, 2023
• Nicolò Bulega – 2026

• 22 Manufacturers' Titles

• Ducati 888 (3 titles): 1991, 1992, 1993
• Ducati 916 / 996 / 998 (8 titles): 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
• Ducati 999 (3 titles): 2003, 2004, 2006
• Ducati 1098 / 1198 (3 titles): 2008, 2009, 2011
• Ducati Panigale V4 R (5 titles): 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026