The world championship reserved for production derivatives restarts from the spectacular Phillip Island track in a context full of novelties: after the farewell of the “big” players in recent years, the spotlight is on Nicolò Bulega, the clear favorite astride the official Ducati
The World Cup Superbikes officially reopens its doors on the weekend of February 22nd with the long-awaited round of Phillip Islandfirst test of the 2026 edition. The tests of the pre–season and after a winter that saw various pieces move on the chessboard, the world championship reserved for production derivatives presents itself on the Australian track with many new features compared to last season. With the outgoing world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu having now emigrated to the shores of MotoGP and the legend Jonathan Rea having hung up his helmet (to dedicate himself to the role of tester), the new year promises more than ever to be the beginning of a new chapter for the series, even if the role of number one favorite for the title seems to be gathering unanimous approval.
Bulega man to beat
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In 2025 Nicolò Bulega he contested the world title with Razgatlioglu until the last day, sharing the entire haul of available victories with the Turk (35 out of 36, between long races and the Tissot Superpole Races). This year, without his bitter rival in the area anymore and with many riders struggling with bikes they have never ridden before, the 26-year-old representative of the team Aruba.it Ducati inevitably enjoys the favor of the forecast, both for the conquest of the World Superbike crown and for his first round of the season. Bulega, in fact, dominated the last official test held a few days ago at Phillip Island, beating all the competition by more than 6 tenths, and twelve months ago, on this same track, he achieved a sumptuous hat-trick of victories with lots of pole position.
The contenders for the podium
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There are many drivers aiming to give Bulega a hard time on the spectacular Australian track. In the large Italian contingent, which has nine elements (including the vice-champion), the most accredited are Danilo Petrucciwho will be riding the BMW left vacant by Razgatlioglu, and Andrea Locatelliabout to start his sixth season aboard the Yamaha R1 and the only rider capable of breaking the hegemony of Bulega and Razgatlioglu at the top of the podium in 2025. However, the potential of their respective teammates remains to be discovered, namely Iker Lekuona, the former MotoGP rider Miguel Oliveira and Xavi Vierge, potentially fearsome but, again, all struggling with bikes they have never ridden before. Also worth keeping an eye on is the stainless ex-world champion Alvaro Bautista (Ducati Barni team) and Alex Lowes, both multiple winners at Phillip Island in Superbike. It promises to be an uphill weekend, however, for the Honda HRC team, given that both of its starting riders, the newly arrived Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra (replaced by Tetsuta Nagashima), are knocked out due to injury. Remy Gardner, boxing mate of the world champion Supersport Stefano Manziwill be the only driver of the Japanese company on the starting grid.
The Phillip Island circuit
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Phillip Island, about 125 km from Melbourne, is an almost institutional stage of the Superbike World Championship. It was not present in all editions of the championship, in particular the first two at the end of the 80s and during the Covid period, but it has seen unforgettable pages of its history written. As well as the MotoGP, of course. The circuit it is 4,448 m long and has 12 curves, 5 on the right and 7 on the left, of which the most famous is undoubtedly the third, called Stoner Corner, made famous by the long acceleration drifts of the champion to whom it is named. As mentioned, last year Bulega won all the races, also taking pole with a time of 1:27.916new Superbike track record (1:26.465 that of MotoGP, i.e. Fabio Quartararo’s 2025 pole). In recent testing, his best time was 1:28.630. Before the Emilian ace, only two other Italian riders had managed to win on this track in Superbike: Max Biaggi, winner in Race-1 in 2012 with Aprilia, and Marco Melandri, author of a double with Ducati in 2018.
TV times and streaming
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As made official just a couple of weeks ago, Sky has secured the rights to continue broadcasting the Superbike World Championship on national territory until the end of the 2027 season. Consequently, the television audience will be able to enjoy the exploits of its protagonists in the same way as last year. The events of the Phillip Island round will be broadcast live by Sky Sports MotoGPon channel 208 of the satellite platform, which will then also offer several reruns at various times. Race-1 on Saturday 21 February and Race-2 on Sunday 22 February are scheduled for 6:00 in the morning Italian time while the Superpole race will take place at 3:00 in the morning. Go streaming they will be visible via Now and Sky Go. Tv8the group’s digital terrestrial channel, will broadcast all three races live and will also broadcast them on a deferred basis in the early afternoon. Along with the premier class, the Supersport World Championship will also take to the track at Phillip Island.
- 3:00 – Superbike Superpole
- 4:30 – Supersport Race-1
- 6:00 – Superbike Race-1
(TV8 repeat at 2.00pm)
Sunday 22 February 2026
- 3:00 – Superbike Superpole Race
(TV8 repeat at 1pm) - 4:30 – Supersport Race-2
- 6:00 – Superbike Race-2
(TV8 repeat at 2.00pm)
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