CIV Superbike heads to Cremona: all the latest on the starting grid

The CIV Superbike makes its debut at Cremona with a few withdrawals, the championship leader on the grid, and a welcome return: all the latest on the starting lineup.

After a long summer break, the CIV Superbike restarts at the Cremona Circuit, fully entering the final rush of the 2026 season. This weekend the venue named after Angelo Bergamonti, part of the WorldSBK calendar for two years now, hosts the tricolor series for the first time as the fifth and penultimate round. An event understandably much anticipated by the Italian Motorcycling Federation and just about everyone in the paddock, featuring multiple talking points and a few changes on the starting grid. Several teams and riders have been forced to revise their plans—for a variety of reasons.

The first concerns the unwelcome scheduling clash, for the second separate occasion this season, with the FIM EWC Endurance World Championship. The CIV Superbike’s première at Cremona goes head-to-head with the Bol d’Or, the season finale of endurance motorcycle racing. For this very reason, Sisma Racing Team has decided to skip the trip without replacing Christian Gamarino (a regular with Kawasaki Webike TRICKSTAR). Also engaged at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet are Kevin Manfredi (RAC41 Honda) and Simone Saltarelli (REVO-M2 Aprilia), thus unable to defend the colors of Atomico Racing Team and of Vitali Racing Team by TCF75 with-and-by Luca Vitali, respectively. Andrea Tomio’s squad will rely solely on Luigi Montella, while for all three the appointment with the tricolor top class is postponed to the Vallelunga finale scheduled for next October.

A separate matter for Alessandro Delbianco. Despite the clash with the Bol d’Or, he will regularly start the CIV Superbike round with DMR Racing, in mutual agreement with Yamaha Racing and the ELF Marc VDS Racing/KM99 team of the FIM EWC, as already happened at Imola. “DB52” will do everything to consolidate his championship lead, arriving at Cremona with a healthy cushion to manage over his closest pursuers: a 32-point advantage over Samuele Cavalieri, 38 over Gabriele Giannini. Among the usual frontrunners of the tricolor top class, Michele Pirro (Garage 51 Racing Team powered by DTO) is expected to return after surgery on his left shoulder and the resulting withdrawal from Misano’s Racing Night. Not a surprise for our readers, as we had the chance to anticipate this double participation back on September 5.

While Garage 51 will also field a second Ducati Panigale V4 for the confirmed Alessio Finello, we will not see the Penta Motorsport team in action at Cremona either, due to the split with Filippo Rovelli. Tight timelines have led the structure run by Ivan Goretti to postpone any plans to Vallelunga, with the Milanese rider in turn busy these days at the Red Bull Ring with his family team ParkinGO in the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup alongside the MotoGP weekend. Matteo Ciprietti will also be absent on the San Martino del Lago track with ZPM Motorsport Racing, aiming to return for the final outing of the season.

Having ended the partnership with Alessandro Costantino, Z.Esse Squadra Corse has formalized the signing of Jarno Ioverno. For the Turin native, left without a ride after parting ways with Very Well Motosport in CIV Supersport, this will be a return to the saddle of Stefano Zambon’s Honda CBR 1000RR-R after a far-from-exciting experience in the second half of last season.

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