Following his hat-trick at Cremona, Iker Lecuona (Ducati) is confirmed as runner-up in the world championship

The constant second-place finishes were starting to get to Iker Lecuona – between Race 1 at Portimão and Race 2 at Misano, the Spaniard crossed the finish line one place behind his Aruba.it Ducati team-mate Nicolò Bulega 22 times in a row. Ahead of the tenth race weekend of the 2026 Superbike World Championship, the Spaniard had even racked up 26 second-place finishes and, at least, one victory, which he had fought hard to secure in the first race at Donington Park.

In return, Lecuona really threw a spanner in the works for his Italian team-mate at his home race in Cremona. Bulega would have loved to continue his winning streak in front of his family, friends and fans to secure his world title in style, but Lecuona, who is the same age, was simply the better rider this weekend: Fastest time on Friday, pole position and a Race 1 win on Saturday, followed by two more victories on Sunday – it couldn’t have gone better!

It’s Lecuona’s first hat-trick. “Of course I’m absolutely delighted with the win. That was my first perfect weekend in the Superbike World Championship and I have to thank the team for that,” Lecuona said jubilantly. “I’ve told my team not to change the bike at all for the rest of the season – it felt fantastic and riding it was incredible fun! I said as early as Friday that we’d found something on the bike that made me feel brilliant in all conditions. However, the grip conditions had changed significantly for Sunday and it was quite tricky – much worse than on Saturday. To have secured three wins feels fantastic.”

Willkommen zum Rennen in Cremona

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Nicolò Bulega

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Fans

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Sam und Alex Lowes

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Iker Lecuona

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Jake Dixon

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Garrett Gerloff

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Das Bike von Yari Montella

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Nicolò Bulega

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Axel Bassani

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Alex Lowes

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Xavi Vierge

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Alberto Surra

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Jake Dixon

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Andrea Locatelli

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Nicolò Bulega

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Sam Lowes

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Axel Bassani

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Yari Montella

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Andrea Locatelli

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Iker Lecuona gewinnt beide Läufe in Cremona

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Nicolò Bulega ist Superbike-Weltmeister 2026

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Weltmeister Nicolò Bulega

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Lauf 1 - Nicolò Bulega, Iker Lecuona, Sam Lowes

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Lauf 2 - Nicolò Bulega, Iker Lecuona, Yari Montella

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Cremona-Sieger Iker Lecuona

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Weltmeister Nicolò Bulega

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Cremona

© Gold & Goose

The Ducati factory rider secured all three victories by a relatively clear margin; only in the Superpole Race was his lead slightly narrower at 2 seconds. Unlike Lecuona, Bulega took a gamble and opted for the particularly soft SCQ rear tyre for the Sprint. “Nicolò was stronger in the Superpole Race and made further progress for the second main race – I had to push hard in the opening laps,” Lecuona admitted. “Once it became clear that he and others had opted for the qualifying tyre in the sprint, I had to adjust my approach. He overtook me at Turn 11 and, on the same lap, I passed him at Turn 13. I then managed a few 1:27-minute laps on the race tyre, which wasn’t a problem for me. In the second race, when I was three to four seconds ahead of Nicolò, I eased off a bit and was doing high 1:28s. Those were lap times I could manage very comfortably and safely. I left myself a bit of a margin so that I could afford to make a small mistake now and then.”

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09.10.2026 - 11:15

Iker Lecuona is the 2026 Superbike World Champion

Just as Bulega is confirmed as World Champion, Lecuona is confirmed as runner-up following the Cremona round! Now that Lecuona has proved he is on a par with Bulega, does he see himself as his logical successor for 2027? “And a huge compliment to Nicolò. He more than deserves the title and has been absolutely brilliant all season,” emphasised the Spaniard. “But please, let’s not talk about next year just yet – we’ve still got two race weekends to go and we should wait and see how they pan out.”