Nicolo Bulega’s successor at Aruba: Ducati bosses are now discussing it

The Superbike World Championship, founded in 1988, has never seen a rider dominate quite like Nicolo Bulega did in the 2026 season: The Italian won the first 21 races, suffering his only defeat in the first race at Donington Park on 11 July, when he finished second behind his Aruba team-mate Iker Lecuona. The following day, the 26-year-old set the record straight once again and headed into the almost eight-week summer break with two further victories, before the final third of the season gets underway on the first weekend of September at Magny-Cours near Nevers.

A great deal will be decided between now and then. During World Ducati Week in early July, Ducati and the Aruba team agreed to continue their partnership for a further two years in the World Superbike Championship, running until the end of 2028. The next step will be to extend the contract of the reliable Iker Lecuona, who is not only the only rider to have beaten Bulega this year, but who, after 19 (!) second-place finishes, is also comfortably second in the World Championship – 133 points behind Bulega and 147 ahead of third-placed Yari Montella.

The next question is who will take Bulega’s place, as thanks to his magnificent performances in the World Superbike Championship and as a Ducatitest rider for Ducati, has been promoted to the premier class for 2027 and 2028 and will join Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team alongside Fermin Aldeguer.

Everyone wants a place in the Ducati works team

“The list of interested parties is very long,” said Aruba team manager Serafino Foti in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “Gigi Dall’Igna, Stefano Cecconi and I will sit down and discuss who is the right person.”

Ducati is in no hurry to sign a second rider: firstly, because everyone wants to ride the best bike, and secondly, because prices fall the longer the team waits to make its decision.

Aruba boss Cecconi had already outlined his views in an exclusive interview back in April: “For me, the key factor is motivation. I don’t want anyone from MotoGP who isn’t happy to be in Superbikes or who sees it as a Plan B – regardless of how good that rider might be. I want to work with people who are happy to be in this championship, in this team and on this bike.”

The key question: an established rider or a young talent?

The northern Italian has no preference as to whether Lecuona’s future pit neighbour should be an established rider from the MotoGP or Superbike World Championship, or an up-and-coming young rider from the Moto2 or Supersport classes. In MotoGP, Jack Miller, Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Alex Rins and Maverick Viñales are losing their seats; with the exception of the latter, all have expressed an interest in the production-based world championship. From Moto2, championship leader Manuel Gonzalez has sounded out the possibility of joining the BMW works team should he fail to secure the MotoGP seat at Tech3 KTM.

For Cecconi, it would be exciting to take on a younger rider and develop a ‘new Bulega’. However, this would require someone of the calibre of Gonzalez (23). It should not be overlooked that Ducati always likes to field an Italian rider in the Superbike World Championship, which could favour Morbidelli (31) or Moto2 rider Celestino Vietti (24).