Bulega-Ducati Dominance Leaves WorldSBK Without Excitement, Says Jonathan Rea
The 2026 WorldSBK season has been dominated by the factory Ducati team, with only two riders, Nicolo Bulega and Iker Lecuona, remaining in championship contention. This dominance has left the series lacking excitement, according to six-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea.
Bulega and Lecuona have split the victories this year, with Bulega leading 23-1. The Italian's wins have often been in tight scenarios, with only tenths of a second separating him from Lecuona in several races. The Superpole Race at Aragon stands out as a particularly close contest, where Bulega was pushed to his limits.
Lecuona's win came in Race 1 at Donington, where he beat Bulega in a head-to-head battle over 23 laps. This highlights that WorldSBK can still provide entertaining races, but the reality is that only two riders can win this season.
Yari Montella, another Ducati rider, has finished on the podium in each of the last seven races, but his target is simply to have one race before the end of the year where he stays with the two leaders from start to finish. Montella's struggle to consider winning is a testament to the dominance of the Ducati team.
The Italian manufacturer's monopoly on race wins has extended to its factory team, with a four-and-a-half-round podium lockout. This means that not only do you need a Ducati to win races, but you also need it to be competitive. Even with Ducati's 0.5kg/h under the minimum fuel flow limit, the gap for other manufacturers remains unclosed.
For fans watching on TV, this lack of competition leads to remarkable predictability, which is the primary obstacle to sporting excitement. Jonathan Rea believes that WorldSBK is currently lacking in excitement, stating, 'But the facts are that the championship right now has no excitement. Superbike should be exciting.'
Rea respects the job of Ducati and Bulega, but he also emphasizes that other manufacturers need hope to continue wanting to compete. He says, 'It's a headache to bring this excitement back or to give hope to Bimota, Honda, Yamaha, or BMW.'
The dominance of the Ducati team has left other manufacturers struggling to keep up, and the lack of competition has led to a lack of excitement in the series. Rea's comments highlight the challenge of maintaining a competitive and exciting championship in the face of a dominant manufacturer.
