Nicolo Bulega caught in crossfire of Alvaro Bautista WorldSBK weight rule attack
Alvaro Bautista’s latest attack on the WorldSBK weight rule has caught Nicolo Bulega in its crossfire.
Alvaro Bautista has once again taken aim at the minimum weight rule in WorldSBK, with Nicolo Bulega being caught in the crossfire this time.
Bautista has long opposed the minimum weight rule in WorldSBK, which was introduced in 2024 after he won 27 of 36 races en route to the 2023 title.
Bautista was then beaten two seasons in a row by Nicolo Bulega, who was his team-mate at the factory Ducati team, and on moving to Barni Ducati for 2026 has continued to struggle, with no dry weather podiums to his name so far this season.
That 2023 season is a record for Bautista – no one has ever won more races in a single year in WorldSBK. But Bulega is on course to beat it.
The Italian has won 26 races so far this year, and has nine races left to surpass Bautista’s 2023 total. It seems a certainty, but when WorldSBK made note of this possibility on social media Bautista snapped back with a photo of his water bottle.
On the water bottle, it reads “no discrimination” with a graphic saying “no combined weight” in reference to the rule, which requires riders who are lighter than 80kg with all their gear on to carry ballast weight. Bautista, as the smallest and lightest rider in WorldSBK, is most affected.
Bautista is of course not attacking Bulega with his reply to the WorldSBK post, and the Spaniard also spoke well of the 2026 champion elect on Thursday at the Italian Round on the subject of Bulega’s recently confirmed move to MotoGP for 2027.
“I think Nicolo [Bulega] has a really high potential,” Alvaro Bautista told WorldSBK.com.
“He’s a very talented rider.
“He will go back to the championship he started [in]. At the moment, I think he’s the rider who has more kilometres on the new bike [850cc], with the new spec, with the new tyres. So, he has an advantage from the rest.
“But my opinion is that Nicolo will be fast there in MotoGP – I don’t know if [enough] to win all the races like he is doing this season [laughs]. But I’m convinced that he will be very competitive.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
