Nicolo Bulega, 2026 Australian WorldSBK, parc ferme. Credit: Gold and Goose.
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 Australian WorldSBK, parc ferme. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose

2026 Australian WorldSBK LIVE: Race 1 Reaction from Phillip Island

Live coverage from Race 1 at the Australian WorldSBK at Phillip Island, the opening round of the 2026 season.

Race 1 at the 2026 Australian WorldSBK is due to start at 16:00 local time. 

Nicolo Bulega starts on pole position after a commanding performance in Superpole this morning. The Italian was fastest by over 0.4 seconds as he took his third straight Phillip Island pole, and has topped every session so far this weekend. A victory in Race 1 will be Bulega's fifth in World Superbike at Phillip Island having won all three races last year as well as Race 1 in 2024.

Sam Lowes has been the closest challenger to the Italian for most of the weekend, but was beaten to second place by Yari Montella in Superpole. Lowes will start third.

Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes have both been on good form for Bimota this weekend and will both start from the second row, Lowes fourth ahead of Bassani in fifth. Danilo Petrucci joins them on the second row in sixth as he lines up for his BMW debut.

It will also be Miguel Oliveira's BMW debut, but a crash on his first lap of Superpole left the Portuguese rider without a lap time and so he'll start last.

It was not a great first Superpole of the year for Iker Lecuona, either, the new Ducati factory rider qualifying 13th, last of the Ducati riders and over a second behind his teammate at the front.

The field is at its expected strength of 21 riders this weekend, but boosted by a wildcard appearance for Ryan Vickers with HRC. Jake Dixon is absent for Honda after breaking his wrist on Tuesday; he underwent surgery yesterday.

21 Feb 2026
01:53
Bulega dominates so far

So far, this weekend's Australian Round has been dominated by Nicolo Bulega. The Italian began his strong form in the test on Monday and Tuesday, in which he topped all four sessions, and continued that into the weekend. 

He hasn't been headed in any of the three free practices so far, and the Italian was over 0.3 seconds clear of the field this morning in FP3.

Sam Lowes, Alex Lowes, and Axel Bassani have been Bulega's closest challengers so far, although both Garrett Gerloff and Iker Lecuona were able to lap within half-a-second of the Italian this morning.

01:50

Welcome to live coverage of the Superpole session from the Australian WorldSBK, which is due to get underway at Phillip Island in around 10 minutes at 13:00 local time.