Understanding new Ducati “a bit of a key” for Leon Haslam early in BSB 2026

Three times on the podium at the 2026 BSB opener at Oulton Park, Leon Haslam says that the progress made with the new Ducati Panigale V4 R during the three races is of greater satisfaction to him.

Haslam finished second in all three BSB races at Oulton Park, beaten by Kyle Ryde on each occasion.

Like Ryde’s Nitrous Competitions Racing team, Haslam and the Moto Rapido team missed the Donington test as they were still awaiting their race bike to be built. They therefore effectively had half the testing time most of the field had, yet showed strong performance in the first three races with the new package.

“Three seconds is good, but I was more happy the fact that we made steps during the races: Race 1 we didn’t really have much to answer with him [Ryde]; Race 2 we actually lapped faster than him; and Race 3 we actually made a pass with two or three [laps] to go,” said Leon Haslam, speaking to Crash.net after Race 3 at Oulton Park.

“So, definitely good steps and a good start to the season.”

Haslam added that the new Panigale has taken some adapting to and that missing the Donington test left him slightly on the back foot.

“It’s quite different,” he said. “So, getting the bike very late, figuring that out has been a bit of a key, so it’s definitely been a good weekend for that – a lot of data.”

The Moto Rapido Ducati rider also pinpointed one area he wants to improve in at the next round at Donington.

“Just a bit of stop-start, the fast, flowing stuff we were pretty strong,” he said.

“So, we’ll analyse the data and have a look.”

Donington, of course, is a circuit Haslam knows well, but he expects it to be a more competitive round than Oulton Park which was largely dominated by Ducati riders.

“Obviously Kyle goes well there,” he said, “the Yamahas will go well there, so I think we’ll have a few more in the mix at that one. 

“But I know it will well enough so we’ll give it a good go.”