Nicolo Bulega won FIM Superbike World Championship Race One Saturday afternoon at MotorLand Aragon, in Spain. Bulega started from pole position and rode his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4R to a 1.274- second margin of victory in the 18-lap race.
His teammate, Iker Lecuona was the runner-up and Sam Lowes rode his ELF Marc VDS Ducati Panigale V4R to third.
American Garrett Gerloff went from 11th on the grid to 9th at the finish on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR.
Nicolo Bulega leads the championship with 335 points, 100 ahead of Iker Lecuona who has 235 points. Yari Montella is third with 130 points.
Results wsbk race1
More from a press release issued by WSBK:
Bulega resists early Lecuona challenge for Race 1 victory at Aragon, Sam Lowes back on the rostrum.
The #11 continued his march in the 2026 season with victory over Lecuona, while Sam Lowes returned to the rostrum
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) made it 16 wins out of 16 in the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship by claiming victory ahead of teammate Iker Lecuona in Race 1 of the Aragon Round. The #11 resisted early pressure from the #7 to extend his winning run at MotorLand Aragon, while Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) returned to the rostrum for the first time since Round 3.
BULEGA VICTORIOUS AT ARAGON
Bulega got a great launch when the lights went out but faced pressure from Lecuona at Turn 1, but the #11 was able to resist the challenge from the #7 through Turns 1 and 2. Lecuona didn’t let the Championship leader out of his sights over the first few laps, although Bulega slowly started eking out the lead to around half-a-second by the start of Lap 5. By Lap 6, the gap was over a second as the #11 tightened his grasp on P1 and claim victory at Aragon, his 20th in a row in WorldSBK. For Bulega, it was also his 72nd WorldSBK podium, now three behind Colin Edwards and Marco Melandri. Lecuona now has 15 podiums without a win, the all-time record. Sam Lowes initially lost out at the start to brother Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team), but he was able to get ahead of the #22 on Lap 2, promoting him into the podium places. From there, he was able to pull out a sizable gap over the Bimota rider as he returned to the rostrum for the first time since Assen.
BRIDEWELL TAKES BEST CAREER RESULT
With Alex Lowes running in fourth, with the softer front tyre compared to his rivals on the SC1, he had to fend off Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates) in the second half of the race. The #46 was never more than a second behind the #22 as he got into a position to take his best WorldSBK result – something he achieved last time out at the Czech Round with P8. However, Bridewell dropped back from his compatriot in the second half of the race as Alex Lowes finished in P4, with Bridewell having to defend from Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven). Despite ‘Balda’ being all over the back of Bridewell, he was unable to make a move on the final lap, meaning Bridewell took his first top-five finish in WorldSBK, with Baldassarri finishing sixth.
BIG FIGHT FOR P7
Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) finished Race 1 in seventh place and was only just ahead of a fierce fight. The #5 finished just 0.325s clear of Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team), who in turn was just three tenths clear of Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) in ninth, despite the Texan being all over Bassani’s tail in the closing stages of the race.
MACKENZIE VS VAN DER MARK FOR THE TOP TEN
Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing) and Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) engaged in a stunning battle for tenth, with the Independent Ducati rider coming out on top with van der Mark in 11th. Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) finished as the lead Yamaha rider with 12th. Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) and Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) crossed the line side-by-side, with the #97 finishing 0.025s clear. The pair were promoted to P13 and P14 thanks to a penalty to Somkiat Chantra (Honda HRC). The Thai rider crossed the line in P13, but received a two-place penalty for causing an adverse effect to another rider at Turn 12.
JUST MISSING OUT ON POINTS
Jake Dixon (Honda HRC) finished just 1.6 seconds away from the points in his first race for Honda HRC. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was 17th after he lost out on the final lap, finishing ahead of Bahattin Sofuoglu (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) and teammate Mattia Rato.
RETIRING FROM RACE 1
Hannes Soomer (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was the first retirement from the race when he crashed at Turn 14 on Lap 1, with the Estonian taken to the medical centre for a check up. He was declared fit following that check. On Lap 3, Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) brought his Panigale V4R machine into the pits and retired from the race. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) retired after a crash at Turn 14 on Lap 5; he did re-join the race but brought his Yamaha R1 into the pits for repairs before retiring.
The top six from WorldSBK Race 1, full results here:
- Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
- Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.274s
- Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +8.078s
- Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +16.177s
- Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates) +18.619s
- Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) +18.684s
Fastest lap: Nicolo Bulega (Ducati), 1’48.681s
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