FORM GUIDE: Bautista aims to become the oldest WorldSBK race winner, can Bulega match Fogarty?
The #19 will make history with his next win, as he looks to pass Max Biaggi for the honour of being WorldSBK’s oldest race winner
The 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike Championship’s 39th season kicks off at the legendary Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in just a few days with the Australian Round. With the start of the season just around the corner, we’ve gathered the stats and facts you need to know ahead of the first round of the 2026 season…
896 – Countdown for Great Britain: they count 896 podiums at the moment, an all-time record. They are four away from a milestone 900.
450 – Ducati’s next win in WorldSBK will be their 450th. Their best competitor is Kawasaki at 180.
351 – At Jerez last year, Ducati became the first manufacturer with a streak of 350 races in the points. The sequence is ongoing and they are now at 351.
335.4 – The fastest ever top speed recorded at Phillip Island is 335.4 kph, set in 2024 by Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha), when riding for Honda on the CBR1000RR-R during Warm Up.
182.014 – In 2024, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) set the new record for the highest average speed in Superpole at this track: his time of 1’27.916s was good for an average of 182.014 kph, which was also the highest value for the 2024 season.
87 – Ducati have collected no fewer than 87 podium finishes at Phillip Island: that is the third highest value in history for a manufacturer on a given track after their own 104 podiums at Misano and the 94 at Assen.
73 – Phillip Island holds the record for the most WorldSBK races run at, 73. In second place Assen, with 71 races run.
41 – If Bautista wins a race this year, he will break the record for the oldest winner, currently belonging to Max Biaggi at 41 years, 2 months, 14 days. Bautista’s age at the first race of the season will be 41 years 3 months 4 days.
36 – Ducati are the most successful manufacturer at Phillip Island with 36 wins. Their last winless weekend here is 2020. They won more only at Misano (37).
29/57 – The 73 races run in Phillip Island so far had 29 different winners and 57 different riders on the podium. These values remained unchanged last year.
23 – Australian riders have won their home race here 23 times, the last was in 2008 with a double from Troy Bayliss.
20-22 – Aged just 26, Bulega is already two wins shy of equalling the most successful Italian rider, Marco Melandri (22 wins), who set the record at 35 years of age. Max Biaggi, second in this list, is in second place with 21 wins. At the age of Bulega, neither Melandri nor Biaggi had scored a single WorldSBK win. Equalling Melandri will elevate Bulega to 14th in the all-time list, with Raymond Roche (23 wins) occupying 13th.
19 – Phillip Island is the home for thrilling finishes: no fewer than 19 races here were decided by less than 0.1 seconds. That was not the case last year as no one came closer than 2.234 seconds (the gap between Bulega and Andrea Iannone in the Superpole Race) from Bulega.
16 – In 2022, Jonathan Rea claimed the record for Phillip Island podiums: his tally is now 16, four more than Troy Corser.
14.983 – In 2019, Alvaro Bautista made a stunning debut in WorldSBK, winning his maiden race with a gap of 14.983 seconds over Jonathan Rea, the largest winning margin in a dry race at Phillip Island.
13 – The last rider who won at Phillip Island starting outside the top ten on the grid is Noriyuki Haga; he lined up in 13th position in 2009 Race 1, and by the end of the opening lap he was already in second place and took the lead after just four laps.
13 – 2025 runner-up Bulega is on a streak of 13 podium finishes: at 14 he will equal the 13th longest run, set by Carl Fogarty from Phillip Island 1994 to Salzburgring 1995.
8/2 – Eight countries are represented in the full-time entry list: last year only two were able to win WorldSBK races: Turkey (Razgatlioglu), and Italy (Bulega, Locatelli). It was the first time with only two winning countries since 2017: Great Britain (25) and Italy (1: Melandri in Misano/2).
8 – In 2023, Alvaro Bautista became the most successful rider at Phillip Island, with 8 wins, moving ahead of Troy Corser and Jonathan Rea at 7.
7 – No fewer than 7 manufacturers set pole at Phillip Island: the latest addition was BMW in 2020 (Sykes). The record is Ducati, with 14 poles, the last one last year with Niccolò Bulega.
4 – Bulega is running his best winning streak, 4, started at Estoril last year in Race 2.
2x14 – The last 14 races run here (since the 2020 Superpole Race) have been won only by two manufacturers: Ducati (9 wins) and Kawasaki (5). The aforementioned have won 23 of the 24 races run here, missing out only on Race 1 in 2020, won by Yamaha with Toprak Razgatlioglu.
1-3 – The last 12 races here have been won only from the first 3 spots of the grid.
1 – Only once in WorldSBK history, the podium was composed of riders starting outside the top ten grid spots. That was in Phillip Island 2009, Race 1. Noriyuki Haga won from 13th, Max Neukirchner was second from 14th, and Yukio Kagayama was third from 11th.
Follow all the action from Australia LIVE and UNINTERRUPTED using the WorldSBK VideoPass!
