The 2026 Acerbis French Round is in the history books for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, and it was a round that threw up some interesting stats. The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours played host to WorldSBK for the ninth round of the season, and we’ve gathered all the key stats from the weekend.
83 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) moved onto 83 WorldSBK podiums with his hat-trick, 11th on the all-time list. His next target is Aaron Slight, with 87.
46 – Bulega is on 46 wins in his WorldSBK career. This is the race number he used when he won the 2015 Moto3 Junior World Championship title, when racing for the VR46 Rider Academy squad. Next year, he will race for VR46 Racing Ducati in MotoGP.
26 – Bulega has won 26 races this season. He’s one behind the all-time record of 27 for wins in a single campaign, set in 2023 by Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team).
22 – Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) has recorded 22 second-place finishes this year, a record. The previous best value was held by Toprak Razgatlioglu with 20, in 2023.
22 – Bulega and Lecuona have finished 1-2 on 22 occasions this year, the fifth-highest value of all-time in terms of identical 1-2s. They could match the all-time record of 31, held by Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies, if they finish the remaining nine races of this season with Bulega first and Lecuona second.
13 – Both Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) made it to 13 WorldSBK rostrums; Lowes in Race 1 at Magny-Cours and Montella in Race 2.
11 – Bulega, using #11, has 11 hat-tricks in WorldSBK. This is tied for the all-time record, held by Razgatlioglu.
11 – Jake Dixon (Honda HRC) scored his first points of 2026 with P11 in Race 1. His points came more than nine years after his first points-scoring effort, when he was ninth in Race 2 at Donington Park in May 2017 – this is the longest wait between a rider’s first and second points finishes, after Peter Hickman’s 7 year, 1 month wait between 2012 and 2019.
9 – Bulega has recorded nine poles this season, tied with Tom Sykes for the third-best in one campaign. The all-time record is 11, held by Ben Spies in 2009. Stretching back to last season, ‘Bulegas’ is on a run of 10 consecutive poles.
4 – Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) equalled his best WorldSBK finish with fourth in the Tissot Superpole Race.
2 – Despite 24 wins at Magny-Cours, Ducati have only taken pole twice – in 2003 with James Toseland and in 2026 with Bulega.
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