How Nicolo Bulega can win 2026 WorldSBK title at Cremona

This weekend’s WorldSBK Italian Round could see Nicolo Bulega crowned world champion for the second time in his career.

Bulega’s first world title came back in 2023 when he won the World Supersport crown with Ducati. 

It was that season that earned him a step up in 2024 with the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team in WorldSBK. After finishing runner-up to Toprak Razgatlioglu in 2024 and 2025, Bulega has enjoyed almost complete domination in 2026, taking all nine pole positions so far this season and winning 26 of 27 races, beaten only by Iker Lecuona in Race 1 at Donington.

The domination has been such that Bulega will take a 146-point championship lead to Cremona Circuit for this weekend’s Italian Round. It’s a margin that means Bulega will have championship opportunities from Race 1.

Only Lecuona remains in mathematical contention to beat Bulega this year, and he must take points off Bulega at Cremona in order to stop the title being decided before the Iberian double header that closes the season in October.

For Bulega to win the title in Race 1 at Cremona, he would need to have a points lead of 161 points at its finish. 

This would mean out-scoring Lecuona by 15 points, so a win for Bulega would require a finish of sixth or lower from Lecuona for the Italian to clinch on Saturday. If Bulega finished second, Lecuona would have to be 11th or lower; and third for Bulega would mean he’d need Lecuona to be 15th or lower. Any finish outside the top-three for Bulega in Race 1 would guarantee the title battle goes to Sunday at least.

Given that since round two there has been only one race in which the two factory Ducati riders have not finished first and second, it’s unlikely Bulega will win the title on Saturday.

Winning on Sunday would require either a 149-point lead for Bulega after the Superpole Race or a 124-point lead after Race 2. Of course, we can’t know the precise permutations for Sunday without knowing the result of Race 1.

The factor going into this weekend that has not been present all season is Bulega’s fitness, which is relatively unknown after a crash at Mugello while testing the 850cc Ducati MotoGP bike that saw him taken to hospital afterwards. There have been no reports of major injuries for the WorldSBK championship leader, but he did miss this week’s post-race 850cc MotoGP test in Austria.