This is how Ducati star Nicolò Bulega (26) will become Superbike World Champion in Cremona

Nicolò Bulega’s season has been well documented. Nine pole positions from nine rounds and 26 wins out of a possible 27 speak for themselves. The Italian could clinch the world championship title as early as the tenth of twelve rounds of the 2026 Superbike World Championship. We can go so far as to say: he will secure the world title!

The 26-year-old leads the overall standings with 553 points. In second place is his Aruba.it Ducati team-mate Iker Lecuona with 407 points. That’s a 146-point lead with 186 points still up for grabs. For the third-placed rider in the World Championship – Ducati privateer Yari Montella – trailing Bulega by 306 points, the Superbike crown is no longer even mathematically possible.

Since Portimão, the two factory riders have finished first and second in every race, apart from the Superpole Race at Donington Park, when Lecuona crashed. It is safe to assume that this balance of power will hold true this coming weekend in Cremona.

The Italian could be crowned the new world champion as early as after Race 1 if he scores 15 points more than Lecuona. This means that, should Bulega win, the Spaniard would have to finish no higher than sixth or crash – an unlikely scenario.

The title could be decided in the Superpole Race if Bulega has scored three more points across both races. Two wins would be enough for that, even if Lecuona were to finish second in both – and there is a high probability that this will be the case.

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However, should Lecuona win the first race and the sprint, with Bulega finishing second in both, the decision would be postponed until the second main race. In that case, however, even a win for Lecuona would see the championship leader need only finish tenth. That is because he would then lead on 124 points, whilst the same number of points remain up for grabs at Estoril and Jerez. But Bulega has secured more wins and would be crowned world champion.

What could delay the title decision until the round in Portugal? Only if Bulega’s crash at the MotoGP test in Mugello were to hamper him so severely that he were not cleared to start at his home race in Cremona. However, it does not look as though that will be the case.