Ducati, Bimota reveal factory colours for 2026 WorldSBK season
Ducati and Bimota have both revealed their factory teams' liveries for the 2026 WorldSBK season.
The Aruba.it Racing Ducati team has revealed its 2026 WorldSBK livery ahead of the first round of the season.
The paint job is predictably red – who’d have thought it! – with Aruba.it entering its 12th season as title sponsor for the factory team of the Bologna brand in WorldSBK.
It’s a partnership which so far has achieved two world titles, both courtesy of Alvaro Bautista who won the WorldSBK crown in 2022 and 2023.
The departure of Bautista is therefore a significant part of Ducati’s story coming into the 2026 season, the Spaniard having moved to the satellite Barni team to be replaced by Iker Lecuona as Nicolo Bulega’s teammate.
In their two seasons together in the factory team, Bulega completely out-classed Bautista, winning 20 races in the past two seasons compared to Bautista’s three. The Spaniard also finished behind his younger teammate in both seasons’ riders’ standings as Bulega went to take the fight to Toprak Razgatlioglu in 2025 in particular.
Bulega came up just 13 points short of the 2025 title, and with Razgatlioglu no longer in WorldSBK the path to victory seems open for him this year, although preparations for what on-paper should be a straightforward and dominant season has been far from simple, with the development of the new Ducati Panigale V4 R hampered by rain at both January tests in Jerez and then Portimao.
Even still, Bulega is in a strong position heading into this season, and it is perhaps his new teammate Lecuona, who has so far scored two podiums in WorldSBK, who is best placed to take the fight to the 2023 Supersport World Champion.
Bimota
Bimota also held their season presentation tonight (3 February). Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani remain on the team for this year after Lowes took the new KB998 to four podium finishes last season.
The Kawasaki-backed Italian factory's colours remain almost the same this year, with a predominantly red and white livery. The green introduced in Misano last year also stays, although the deep blue is replaced with black.
Find all the latest motorcycle news on Visordown.
