The 2026 World Superbike Championship (WSB) got underway at the weekend at the traditional season opener at the sweeping Phillip Island circuit in Australia and as expected, it was the hot pre-season favourite Nicolo Bulega who dominated.
Brilliant Bulega
Italian ace Bulega has finished second overall on the Aruba.it Racing Ducati in each of the previous seasons with 2025 seeing him locked in battle throughout with eventual champion Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The duo won 35 of the 36 races between them with Bulega the only rider capable of challenging Razgatlioglu on each race weekend. 14 wins came his way as he ended the season just seven points behind the Turkish rider and a whopping 266pts clear of third placed finisher and Ducati team-mate Alvaro Bautista.
Bulega’s form has led to him almost certainly lining up in MotoGP in 2027 but, for now, his focus is on the World Superbikes and with Razgatlioglu having already made that move, the path is clear for him to claim WSB glory.
Comfortably quickest in pre-season testing, Bulega brought that form to Phillips Island and after claiming pole position by almost half a second, he duly won all three races by substantial margins, winning in the wet race by more than 11 seconds. He led all but three of the 54 laps which further emphasised his dominance and it already looks like second place is the best any other rider can hope for.
Surprise packages
With Bulega disappearing into the distance in each race, the battle for the remaining podium positions were a lot more closely fought, and the opening race of the season delivered two surprise results with both Yari Montella and Lorenzo Baldassari claiming their maiden WSB podiums.
Both Ducati-mounted, the Italian duo had impressed in pre-season, but few would have predicted they’d finish second and third in the first race of 2026. Montella was, arguably, the one expected to feature more prominently, the Barni Spark Racing rider having been rookie of the year in 2025.
However, he’s still very much the number two in the Barni Spark team with former World Champion Bautista now alongside him but that wasn’t in evidence at Phillip Island. Montella took second in the first race and backed it up with a strong fourth second time out. He was on course for another podium in the final race of the weekend only to blot his copybook when he crashed out of second with just a handful of laps to go. Nevertheless, it was a strong opening round.
Baldassari’s podium was even more surprising as although he was a proven race winner in Moto2 and World Supersport, finishing second overall in the latter in 2022, he only managed a best finish of 12th in his only WSB season to date in 2023.
Back then, he was Yamaha-mounted and such was his confidence drained, he failed to make an impression on his return to World Supersport in 2024 and could only find a ride in the MotoE Championship last year.
When he was announced as Andrea Iannone’s replacement at GoEleven Ducati, it raised a few eyebrows to say the least, but he appears to be grabbing his second WSB opportunity with both hands. He couldn’t repeat his podium in the other two races at Phillip Island, but he was in the top ten on both occasions and left Australia in fourth overall in the early-season standings.
Bassani and Bimota shine
Bimota made a successful return to the World Superbike Championship last year with riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani impressing, particularly Lowes who ended the season in a strong sixth overall, which included four podiums.
Using the Kawasaki ZX-10RR engine, Lowes clearly adapted to the new bike better than team-mate Bassani, the Italian finishing four places further back in the 2025 series, but the two riders have been equally matched so far this year.
However, it was Bassani who enjoyed the best results in Australia and after placing fourth in race one, he secured second place finishes in the other two races, one in the dry and one in the wet, to end round one second in the championship standings. That gave him his first WSB podiums since 2023.
Now 26, Bassani initially impressed on a Ducati and three seasons with the private Motocorsa team earned him a factory ride at firstly Kawasaki and then Bimota. Outshone by Lowes in each of their first two seasons together, Bassani now looks well placed to ensure it’s a lot closer battle this time around.
For Lowes, Australia was a solid season opener and after taking seventh in race one, he took third second time out to join Bassani on the podium and make it a race to remember for Bimota. He was on course for another top five finish in the final race of the weekend only to crash out in the latter stages, a fate which also befell twin brother Sam on the Elf Marc VDS Ducati.
New beginnings for BMW
With Razgatlioglu, world champion for BMW in both 2024 and 2025, having switched to the Pramac Yamaha MotoGP team and Michael van der Mark having been moved into a test role, the German manufacturer has a new look in 2026 with former MotoGP race winners Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira on board.
For Petrucci, it’s his fourth WSB season after spending three consecutive years at the Barni Spark Ducati team, a period which saw him claim three wins and 19 podiums and finish fifth overall in both 2024 and 2025.
With his knowledge of the series, and the Pirelli tyres, he’s expected to be BMW’s main hope, in the first half of the season at least, but it was low-key start with sixth in race three his best finish. That would prove to BMW’s best result of the weekend, but Oliveira was, arguably, more impressive.
Making the switch to WSB after six years in MotoGP, he had to start all three races from the back of the grid after crashing in qualifying, but he fought his way through to eighth in race one and then went one better in the final race despite having to encounter all the spray and poor visibility.
It’s clearly going to take both riders time to adapt to their new surroundings, for different reasons, but the solid results, after limited testing, will give both them and the team plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
Career best for Mackenzie
Just like 2025, Ducati left Australia with their riders dominating the top ten in the championship and after the first round, six Ducati riders find themselves in the top seven of the early points table.
One of those riders is former British Superbike Champion Tarran Mackenzie with fourth in race three a career best WSB finish. Since switching to the series in 2024, it hasn’t been an easy time for the Brit with his Petronas Honda far from competitive.
However, a switch to the MGM Bonovo Racing team at the back end of 2025 showed glimpses of the real Tarran Mackenzie with the final round at Jerez yielding three top ten finishes, results that revitalised the now 30-year old.
It also revitalised the team and with a new title sponsor in the shape of Optical Express, and the latest-spec Ducati the partnership has come into 2026 reinvigorated and with a clear point to prove. Both Mackenzie and team owner Michael Galinski have a smile back on their face and their early season form is exactly what both require. If they can maintain their pace, top ten finishes are guaranteed to be a regular occurrence.
Yamaha struggle
One of the biggest surprises in Australia was the performance, or lack of it, from Yamaha and all four riders struggled, only the final wet race saving their blushes as Andrea Locatelli finally gave them a top five finish.
Up until then, Locatelli – who’s finished in the top five of the championship in four of the last four seasons – found himself battling at the wrong end of the top 15. A lowly 15th in qualifying, the Italian was only 13th and 14th in the first two races as he struggled for both confidence and speed.
The rain proved to be a good leveller and fifth gave everyone at the team a lift.
New team-mate Xavi Vierge had a weekend to forget as he crashed in two races and failed to start a third whilst the GYTR GRT team fared equally as bad with Remy Gardner and series rookie, and reigning World Supersport Champion, Stefano Manzi scoring just five points between them.
Pre-season injuries continue to hamper Gardner with Manzi still clearly trying to adapt to the Superbike after four seasons in the Supersport class. There’s plenty of work to do for all concerned at the forthcoming test in three weeks’ time at Portimao, Portugal.
Disaster for Dixon
At least those four riders got to race as a heavy crash in testing at Phillip Island ruled Jake Dixon out. Making the switch to World Superbikes after seven years in the Moto2 Championship, Dixon crashed on his first flying lap on the final day of testing ahead of the new season with a badly broken wrist the outcome.
Previous tests in Portugal had been dogged by poor weather, and the Honda remains the poor relation in the World Superbike Championship so the loss of mileage will set Dixon back considerably.
Just like the 2024 Moto2 season, when Dixon crashed in practice at the opening round in Qatar, he’s already on the back foot. Ruled out of the first two rounds back then, it looks like the same could happen in his maiden WSB season.