Following Iker Lecuona’s thrilling victory in Race 1 at Cremona, World Championship celebrations have been put on brief hold for Nicolo Bulega. However, the Italian remains on the brink of securing the WorldSBK crown on home soil before his leap to MotoGP next season.
Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega crossed the line second in Saturday’s feature race, ceding just five points to his teammate and sole remaining title challenger, Iker Lecuona.
Heading into Sunday’s action on home turf, Bulega retains a commanding 141-point lead over Lecuona (573 vs 432). With only 124 points available across the final two rounds at Estoril and Jerez following this weekend, Bulega needs to leave Cremona with an advantage of at least 124 points, leveraging his massive 26-race victory tiebreaker, to lock up the 2026 WorldSBK Championship. Here is how the scenarios lay out for Bulega to seal the deal on Sunday across the Superpole Race and Race 2.
Scenario 1: Crowned in the Superpole Race (Sunday morning)
Requirement: Outscore Lecuona by 8 points or more in the sprint race.
To wrap up the title in the 10-lap Superpole Race, Bulega must extend his current 141-point cushion to 149 points or more, the exact maximum number of points that would remain on the table heading into Sunday afternoon’s Race 2.
- If Bulega wins (12 points): Lecuona must finish P6 or lower (4 points or fewer).
- If Bulega finishes P2 (9 points): Lecuona must finish P9 or lower (1 point or zero).
- If Bulega finishes P3 or lower: The title fight will automatically carry over to Sunday afternoon’s feature race, as the maximum gap Bulega could gain is seven points.
Scenario 2: Crowned in Race 2 (Sunday afternoon)
Requirement: Leave Cremona with a lead of 124 points or more over Lecuona.
If the championship fight progresses to the final race of the weekend, Bulega holds a heavily favoured position. To secure the crown on home soil, he simply needs to avoid losing more than 17 net points to Lecuona across Sunday’s combined track time.
- The 20-point metric: Bulega effectively controls his own destiny. Scoring 20 total points across Sunday’s two races guarantees him the championship regardless of Lecuona’s performances.
- Direct finishing combinations:
- A P2 finish in Race 2 (20 points) guarantees the title no matter the Superpole Race outcome.
- Consistent podiums, such as P3 in the Superpole Race (7 pts) paired with P3 in Race 2 (16 pts), will yield 23 points and easily wrap up the championship.
Scenario 3: Lecuona sweeps Sunday
Requirement: Score 20 points across both races.
Even if Lecuona delivers a flawless Sunday performance and sweeps both the Superpole Race (12 points) and Race 2 (25 points) for a maximum 37-point day, Bulega requires only 20 points total across the two encounters to become the 2026 WorldSBK Champion in front of his home crowd.
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