Nicolò Bulega completed an imperious maximum-points weekend at Magny-Cours, winning all three races to move a single match point from the 2026 Superbike World Championship. He leaves France with 553 points and a 146-point lead over teammate Iker Lecuona.
Three starts, three wins
Race 1 was red-flagged after nine laps when Tommy Bridewell crashed heavily at Turn 14 and damaged the air fence. The restart ran over a shortened 12-lap distance, and Bulega reclaimed the lead under braking at the Adelaide hairpin on lap two, the same corner where Lecuona had attacked first time around. He set a new race lap record of 1m35.030 and beat Lecuona by 3.118 seconds.
Sunday's Superpole Race followed a familiar pattern. Lecuona led the opening two laps before Bulega countered at Turn 5 on lap three, pulling clear to win by 2.073 seconds and lowering the race lap record to 1m34.750. It was his 25th win of the campaign.
A hat-trick at the hairpin
Bulega defended the Adelaide hairpin from the start, set the fastest lap at 1m35.159 on lap four, and led every classified lap. The race was stopped on lap 19 after another Bridewell crash, handing Bulega a winning margin of 5.458 seconds.
The sweep was his eighth clean hat-trick of the season and career WorldSBK victory number 46, moving him ahead of Noriyuki Haga into sixth on the all-time winners list. Lecuona finished second in every race, extending his single-season record to 22 runner-up finishes, but fell further behind in the standings.
One win from the record
Bulega's 26th win of 2026 leaves him one short of Alvaro Bautista's single-season record of 27. "Iker was very strong all weekend, so it's good to win, especially in Race 2," he told reporters afterwards. "I'm really looking forward to Cremona. It could be a great place to win the title."
The championship will be decided at Cremona on 25-27 September.
