Jerez: Bulega on pole for the eleventh time – eight Ducatis in the top nine

On Friday, Ducati works rider Nicolò Bulega set the fastest lap, but in the third practice session that morning, Sam Lowes of the Marc VDS customer team set the fastest time of the weekend so far with a lap of 1:37.690 – though the World Champion, who had already been crowned in Cremona, was only 0.033 seconds slower.

So there was not just one contender for the final pole position of the 2026 Superbike World Championship, and even the top two on the combined timesheet were more than a second off the pole record of 1:36.629 minutes, set by Bulega last year at the Circuito de Jerez.

Qualifying began at 11.15 am and took place in glorious weather. The thermometer read a pleasant 20 degrees and the sun was shining from an almost cloudless sky. Superpole is a traditional qualifying session in which all riders have 15 minutes to set their best possible time. For the season finale, Pirelli is supplying the sticky SCQ tyres. Depending on the track, the extra grip provided by the soft compound can result in a lap time up to one second faster.

When the traffic lights at the end of the pit lane turned green, most riders headed straight out onto the track – the Ducati privateer riders Lorenzo Baldassarri and Tommy Bridewell were the ones who waited the longest.

Iker Lecuona (Ducati) set the first notable time of 1:37.492. The World Championship runner-up was thus one second faster than in free practice. However, once all riders had completed a flying lap, Bulega topped the timesheets with a time of 1:36.948. At that point, the Italian led by almost 0.5 seconds ahead of Sam Lowes and Lecuona.

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Jerez: Rennen 1

FIM Superbike World Championship

17.10.2026 - 15:10

The best rider on a different make after the first attempt was Alex Lowes, who finished eighth on his Bimota KB998, 0.8 seconds off the pace. Xavi Vierge kept the Yamaha flag flying in eighth place. Honda rider Jake Dixon followed in eleventh position. BMW’s star rider Miguel Oliveira and Garrett Gerloff, on the sole Kawasaki, took 13th and 14th places.

With six minutes remaining, the first riders took to the track with a new rear tyre for the final push for times. Lecuona was first out again, but missed setting a new fastest time by 0.150 seconds. Meanwhile, Bulega set about his attempt and, after setting sector bests, clocked a new fastest lap of 1:36.643 minutes. Sam Lowes became the second rider to break the 1:37 mark with a time of 1:36.960 minutes.

A crash by Twan Smits shortly before the end of the final sector at Turn 10 brought out the yellow flag and resulted in the lap times being cancelled. There were no further improvements to the times in the final two minutes.

Bulega thus secured his eleventh pole position of the year. Sam Lowes and Lecuona complete the front row. The Ducati dominance across the first three (!) rows of the grid was only disrupted by Alex Lowes (Bimota) in fifth place.

Yamaha rider Xavi Vierge (11th) and Honda ace Jake Dixon (12th) qualified ahead of BMW rider Miguel Oliveira (13th). Kawasaki’s lone rider, Garrett Gerloff, could only manage 16th on the grid.