After what we have seen during the 2025 season, all the focus is on the role that Bulega can play in the 2026 WSBK. The Italian has been all year, along with Toprak, far above the rest of the rivals, and that is why today he is the main candidate for the title. More after what was seen on this first day of preseason.
And Bulega was getting back on the new Ducati Panigale V4 R, as he already did in the Aragon tests, with which he will seek the 2026 WSBK title. And the first contact could not have been more explosive. Despite setting a fast lap one and a half seconds slower than in the Superpole last Saturday, Bulega managed to stop the clock at 1:38.027, which implies a distance of 1.1 seconds compared to Xavi Vierge who finished second.
We must not lose sight of the fact that Vierge was riding the Yamaha R1 for the first time, but the situation is a first sample of what could be next season. The Supersport champion, Stefano Manzi, was third with a good performance to be his first contact, on a day in which he completed 95 laps, and in which Bahattin Sofuoglu and Andrea Locatelli also placed their Yamahas in the top5.
Few official WSBK 2026 drivers have ridden on the first day
One of the drivers who will not be on the 2026 WSBK grid will be Michael van der Mark. The Dutch driver will become a BMW test driver, but he lapped when neither Petrucci nor Oliveira could do so, placing sixth just ahead of one of the drivers who may be Bulega’s direct rivals: Iker Lecuona.
The Spaniard, still not in top form after the mid-season crash, had his first contact with a bike that differs greatly from the CBR1000RR, finishing almost a second and a half behind Bulega’s time. Gerloff, Gardner and Vickers completed the top 10 of a day of work in the shadows, in which many of the drivers who will be part of the WSBK 2026 grid were not present.
And like BMW, only the test drivers were riding at Bimota and Honda. In the case of the Italian brand it was Xavi Forés who rode, while in the Honda the Frenchman Correntin Perolari got on.
The tests will continue one more day at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit.
WSBK TEST CLASSIFICATION 2026 JEREZ – DAY 1
