Alex Lowes Criticises Ducati WorldSBK 2026 Dominance

WorldSBK, Sportrik Media - Alex Lowes has described Ducati’s dominance in the 2026 World Superbike Championship as “a shame” following another commanding display by the Italian manufacturer at the Dutch round in Assen.

Ducati has controlled the opening phase of the season, winning all nine races so far, all through Nicolo Bulega. The manufacturer has also secured 1-2 finishes in the last six races, while its overall strength was further highlighted at Assen with multiple riders consistently occupying the top positions.

Sam Lowes finished third in all three races at Assen, followed by Alvaro Bautista in fourth across the same events. In one race, Yari Montella completed a Ducati top five, while Lorenzo Baldassarri extended the dominance to a full top six lockout.

Baca JugaAlex Lowes Soroti Dominasi Ducati WorldSBK 2026

The dominance is also reflected in the championship standings, with Ducati occupying the top three positions in the riders’ classification and consistently locking out the front row at every round so far. The leading non-Ducati rider is Miguel Oliveira, who remains 117 points behind Bulega after nine races.

In the manufacturers’ standings, Ducati holds a 93-point advantage over Bimota, effectively doubling the points tally of its closest rival. In the teams’ standings, the factory Bimota squad sits second but trails the factory Ducati team by 167 points.

This level of performance comes in the first season of Ducati’s updated Panigale V4 R, which has immediately delivered a competitive advantage across varying circuit conditions. However, Lowes believes such dominance creates an imbalance in the competition.

"I don’t even want to go on about it, really," Lowes said.

"But it is a shame when one manufacturer is dominating the results."

Despite his comments, Lowes acknowledged the strength of Ducati and its riders, stressing that rival teams must focus on improving their own performance to close the gap.

"You can’t take it away from them or the riders—they’re doing a good job."

"We just need to improve, try to get better, maximise what we have, and see if we can get closer to the front."

In Race 2 at Assen, Lowes showed early promise after starting fourth, but dropped to 11th due to rear instability issues that compromised his pace throughout the race.

"The race started well, like the others, but then I had a problem with the rear of the bike which made it difficult to turn and caused big slides."

"We need to analyse what happened. It’s a shame to end the weekend like that because we were competitive early on."

Looking ahead, Lowes emphasised the need for technical analysis and incremental improvements as the championship moves to the next round. With Ducati maintaining a clear advantage, the challenge for rival manufacturers will intensify as the 2026 WorldSBK season progresses.