WDW 2026, Race of Champions Qualifying: Superbike beats MotoGP, Bulega on pole

Sizzling Misano with World Ducati Week: Bulega takes pole and will start ahead of everyone in Sunday’s race.

Qualifying for the Lenovo Race of Champions in Misano Adriatico ends with Nicolò Bulega on pole position. The 2026 Superbike World Championship dominator set the best time of 1'34"386, edging Lorenzo Baldassarri by 68 thousandths and Pecco Bagnaia by 228. The latter was over 7 tenths up in the first sector and more than 5 in the second, then lost it all. In the third, Bulega made a big difference.

It’s worth noting that for this World Ducati Week the riders are on specially prepared Panigale V4 Tricolore bikes, all with personalized racing fairings.

Front row Bulega-Baldassarri-Bagnaia; the second row will be led by Yari Montella, who will be joined on the grid by Alberto Surra and Franco Morbidelli. Four Superbike riders and two from MotoGP in the top six.

Fabio Di Giannantonio heads the third row and will start alongside Thomas Bridewell and Michele Pirro. Marc Marquez rounds out the fourth, having set the 12th fastest time; he’ll line up just behind Hafizh Syahrin and Alvaro Bautista. Clearly, in the Race of Champions the goal is to have fun and avoid risks. Next weekend both MotoGP (Sachsenring) and Superbike (Donington Park) will be racing, and it makes no sense to go overboard in an event that is mainly for the fans and to celebrate Ducati, which is marking its 100th anniversary this year.

Moreover, it should be added that Marquez isn’t even at 100% physically, so he has even less reason to push his Panigale V4 Tricolore beyond a certain limit.

Before Qualifying, from 2:35 pm there were 25 minutes of Free Practice. Bulega was fastest in 1'34"945, with a wide margin over Baldassarri, second by 767 thousandths. Next came Montella and Surra to complete a top four made up of World Superbike riders. The top MotoGP rider was Bagnaia, fifth and 1"3 off Nicolò. Marquez took it easy, eleventh quickest.