Following Iker Lecuona’s thrilling victory in Race 1 at Cremona, World Championship celebrations have been placed on temporary maintain for Nicolo Bulega. Nevertheless, the Italian stays getting ready to securing the WorldSBK crown on house soil earlier than his leap to MotoGP subsequent season.
Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega crossed the road second in Saturday’s function race, ceding simply 5 factors to his teammate and sole remaining title challenger, Iker Lecuona.
Heading into Sunday’s motion on house turf, Bulega retains a commanding 141-point lead over Lecuona (573 vs 432). With solely 124 factors obtainable throughout the ultimate two rounds at Estoril and Jerez following this weekend, Bulega wants to depart Cremona with a bonus of not less than 124 factors, leveraging his huge 26-race victory tiebreaker, to lock up the 2026 WorldSBK Championship. Right here is how the situations lay out for Bulega to seal the deal on Sunday throughout the Superpole Race and Race 2.
Contents
State of affairs 1: Topped within the Superpole Race (Sunday morning)
Requirement: Outscore Lecuona by 8 factors or extra within the dash race.
To wrap up the title within the 10-lap Superpole Race, Bulega should lengthen his present 141-point cushion to 149 factors or extra, the precise most variety of factors that may stay on the desk heading into Sunday afternoon’s Race 2.
- If Bulega wins (12 factors): Lecuona should end P6 or decrease (4 factors or fewer).
- If Bulega finishes P2 (9 factors): Lecuona should end P9 or decrease (1 level or zero).
- If Bulega finishes P3 or decrease: The title battle will robotically carry over to Sunday afternoon’s function race, as the utmost hole Bulega might acquire is seven factors.
State of affairs 2: Topped in Race 2 (Sunday afternoon)
Requirement: Go away Cremona with a lead of 124 factors or extra over Lecuona.
If the championship battle progresses to the ultimate race of the weekend, Bulega holds a closely favoured place. To safe the crown on house soil, he merely must keep away from dropping greater than 17 web factors to Lecuona throughout Sunday’s mixed observe time.
- The 20-point metric: Bulega successfully controls his personal future. Scoring 20 whole factors throughout Sunday’s two races ensures him the championship no matter Lecuona’s performances.
- Direct ending combos:
- A P2 end in Race 2 (20 factors) ensures the title regardless of the Superpole Race end result.
- Constant podiums, similar to P3 within the Superpole Race (7 pts) paired with P3 in Race 2 (16 pts), will yield 23 factors and simply wrap up the championship.
State of affairs 3: Lecuona sweeps Sunday
Requirement: Rating 20 factors throughout each races.
Even when Lecuona delivers a flawless Sunday efficiency and sweeps each the Superpole Race (12 factors) and Race 2 (25 factors) for a most 37-point day, Bulega requires solely 20 factors whole throughout the 2 encounters to develop into the 2026 WorldSBK Champion in entrance of his house crowd.
