Nicolò Bulega out of this world, a perfect 10: drama-free Superpole and rivals annihilated

There’s no escape at Phillip Island: Nicolò Bulega makes the new-edition Ducati Panigale V4 R fly and bags the tenth Superpole of his career.

The supremacy of number eleven is increasingly embarrassing. Since Monday’s tests he has dominated every time he’s gone on track: four sessions in the final stretch of preseason, and as a weekend appetizer three flawless free practice sessions. The first Superpole of the 2026 World Championship ended up in Bulega’s trophy case without a shake, as if it were the most predictable thing. From here to Sunday he has three clashes ahead with a nailed-on forecast to launch himself toward the world title.

In Bulega’s hands, the Red needs no remote control. In the fifteen minutes of qualifying he set the three best laps, as if to say: Nicolò is racing alone against himself. At the tail end of the attack he clocked 1'28"244, almost replicating to the thousandth the same time he had set in the third and final free practice session. They try everything to inject drama into Superbike but then there’s always a phenomenon who flips the table. Last year Toprak and Bulega were running a championship of their own; with the Turk now up in MotoGP, only one is left...

It has less fuel than the others (except BMW), but the Bologna engineers couldn’t care less about the limits imposed by a leaky technical regulation: race 1 at Phillip Island will start with three Panigales in front. Yari Montella, who is always on fire here, was the best of the rest, paying only four tenths to the phenomenon up ahead: these days that’s an acceptable gap. The Barni team rider did better than a Sam Lowes back to his best after Friday’s big crash at turn 1.

The Portuguese rider arrived swaggering from MotoGP, inheriting the BMW that in the hands of Toprak Razgatlioglu won two World Championships and 39 races in two years. But the first official verdict is a resounding fail: Oliveira crashed at turn two on his first flying-lap attempt, and the technicians couldn’t get the M1000RR back in shape, too damaged to allow a last-ditch rescue. In race 1 and the subsequent Superpole Race, Miguel will dejectedly start from the last slot. A solid Danilo Petrucci salvaged the balance sheet, climbing to sixth, his best placement of the weekend: however, the Ducati is eight tenths adrift.

Superpole didn’t say anything new compared to the previous days: the Bimotas are the only brand capable of at least partially holding up against Ducati. Alex Lowes managed to put his wheels ahead of Axel Bassani, but for now these are details: the intra-family fight in race 1 will spark, with the podium well within reach. Lorenzo Baldassarri took a small step back, but seventh time (third row) is gold for a guy who will run his first World Superbike race in the afternoon. It’s the same situation for Alberto Surra, who set a beautiful tenth time (fourth row) with the Motocorsa Panigale.

The crisis deepens for the rider from Bergamo, spearhead of the Yamaha armada, forced to start from fifteenth. The gap to Bulega is worrying, over a second and a half. With Yamaha in full technical regression, despite regulatory concessions, newcomer Xavi Vierge did slightly better (ninth). Not much to cheer about in the blue garage.