The World Superbike Championship will make its way back to Italy for the third time at the Cremona Circuit, covering the weekend of 25-27 September 2026. After a successful stop at Magny-Cours, the series arrives on home soil with a clear agenda: drivers will chase points, teams will test new rubber, and the championship battle could be settled before the season’s final race.
Championship stakes on the Italian stage
Niccolò Bulega, riding for Racing on a Ducati, entered Cremona with a 146-point lead over teammate Iker Lecuona. A strong finish in Race 1 could hand him the title outright. The math is simple: a win for Bulega forces Lecuona to finish sixth or lower; a second place pushes the required finish to eleventh; a podium still clinches the crown if Lecuona ends up fifteenth or worse. Should the title survive Race 1, the Tissot Superpole Race offers a second chance, needing Bulega to gain at least three points across the two events.
Beyond the championship, Bulega is also chasing Alvaro Bautista’s record of 27 wins in a single season. He already owns 26 victories; one more ties the record, two break it. The pressure is palpable, especially with the track’s short, flowing layout that rewards precision over raw speed.
In the supporting world supersport category, Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU) leads with a comfortable margin on 311 points. He only needs to outscore Valentin Debise by 31 points over the two Cremona races to seal his title. The battle for the final podium spot is tighter, with Can Oncu, Jaume Masia and Tom Booth-Amos all within a narrow range of points, making the Italian round a potential reshuffle for the positions behind the champion.
Italian talent and team preparations
The Cremona weekend will showcase a strong Italian presence. Nine home riders are on the grid, including Bulega, Danilo Petrucci (who won the 2024 event), Yari Montella, Lorenzo Baldassarri of Team Go Eleven, Axel Bassani, Andrea Locatelli, Stefano Manzi, Mattia Rato and Alberto Surra. Baldassarri, who missed the full race weekend at Misano, will have his first complete session at the circuit. He described the track as “a bit small for a Superbike, lacking the gut-wrenching sections, but the goal is to collect points and stay ahead.”
Team Go Eleven arrives after a promising Magny-Cours, where Baldassarri fell just short of the podium. The crew will focus on extracting every millisecond from the bike during Friday’s free practice, especially after a rainy test that limited data collection. The Pirelli tyre supplier will debut a new rear compound within the SCX family, aiming for greater rear-end stability, while retaining the proven SCX front and SCQ qualifying tyres.
Several manufacturers—Ducati, BMW, Honda, Yamaha and the bimota by Kawasaki factory—participated in a two-day private test at Cremona. Weather interruptions forced teams to adapt quickly, but the session still offered valuable insight into set-up preferences for the circuit’s tight corners and brief straights.
Official schedule for fans and broadcasters
Italian broadcaster SKY Sport MGP/HD will run live coverage from Friday 9:40 am to Sunday 3:30 pm, featuring free practice, Superpole sessions and the three races per class. TV8/HD will simulcast the Superbike Race 1 on Saturday at 3:30 pm and the Superpole Race on Sunday at 2:30 pm (delayed).
For viewers in German-speaking regions, the free-to-air platform ServusTV On streams all Superbike practice sessions from Friday 10:15 am and 2:05 pm, with continuous live streams beginning at 9:35 am on Saturday and Sunday. Austria retains linear coverage, though a clash with the Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix forces a repeat broadcast of Superbike Race 1 at 3:55 pm on Saturday; the Sunday race will be shown live from 2:40 pm after a brief Superpole replay.
Dorna’s official website, continues to provide the most comprehensive package: a €19.99 video-pass grants access to every practice, qualifying and race session, plus an on-demand archive for the remainder of the season.
What to expect on the track
Weather forecasts predict a dry weekend with late-summer temperatures, offering ideal conditions for both riders and tyre performance. The combination of a new rear tyre, a motivated Italian contingent, and a championship that could be decided in a single lap makes Cremona the focal point of the 2026 season.
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