World Championship leader Nico Bulega: Why Ducati isn’t planning a title celebration for Magny-Cours

The Superbike World Championship circus has been on a break since mid-July; this coming weekend, action finally resumes at Magny-Cours in central France, marking the start of the final third of the season. Nicolo Bulega has won 23 of the 24 races so far, whilst at Donington Park, Ducati clinched the World Championship title in both the team and manufacturers’ standings ahead of schedule.

Bulega is delivering performances the likes of which we have never seen before in the production-based World Motorcycle Championship. His 25 wins across two seasons are a record, as are his 37 consecutive podium finishes. And further milestones are within reach. In 2023, Álvaro Bautista (Ducati) racked up 27 wins in a single season; Bulega currently stands at 23. Given his superb form and with twelve races still to go, this is an achievable target. The Italian has already won all three races in a single weekend ten times in his career. Should he manage to do so again in France, he would draw level with record-holder Toprak Razgatlioglu (11).

Bulega isn’t worrying about it

Mathematically speaking, Bulega could already be crowned world champion at Magny-Cours, but this scenario is unlikely. The 26-year-old currently holds a 133-point lead over his Aruba team-mate Iker Lecuona in second place, with 248 points still up for grabs. Bulega would need to have a lead of at least 186 points after this coming weekend to clinch the title early. He would therefore need to score 53 more points than Lecuona, which means that the Spaniard would have to come away with almost nothing from the three races, even if he scored the maximum possible 62 points.

Bulega is set on success; he already said back in July that he isn’t worrying about the maths at this stage. Apart from the unlikelihood of clinching the title as early as Magny-Cours, Bulega can also imagine a better place to do so. “It would be perfect in Cremona, at a race in Italy – that would be fantastic,” grinned the 43-time race winner.

Assuming Bulega were to win all three races at Magny-Cours and Lecuona finish second in each, his lead going into Cremona would be 145 points. He could then score 21 points fewer than the Spaniard at his home race and still become Superbike Champion for the first time.

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