JONATHAN PALMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE MOTORSPORT VISION
OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
I’ m delighted to welcome you to Donington Park for the highlight international race fixture on our calendar – the annual summer round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.
Donington Park is very much the spiritual home of World Superbikes. The circuit hosted the first ever round of the series back in 1988, and it has been a firm favourite ever since. Few venues have hosted more World Superbike events since those early days, and fewer still can reflect on the levels of drama that have been produced during those rounds here.
It’ s been a supremely impressive performance so far this year for Ducati’ s Nicolò Bulega, with the Italian rider currently on an extraordinary 25 race unbeaten streak, which stretches to the final four contests of last year! But all good runs must come to an end, and he’ s yet to win a WorldSBK race in the UK.
I’ m expecting the British riders to give him a stern fight on home soil this weekend. The Lowes twins Sam and Alex are very much Donington locals; they know the venue incredibly well and have been on the podium this year for Bimota and Marc VDS Racing respectively. The Ducati Panigale V4 R is clearly the bike to have at the moment, and Sam has just that. So too, does Tarran Mackenzie, another local, hailing from Ashby-de-la-Zouch and heading into the event fresh from one of his best results of the year so far at Misano.
Recent British Superbike champion Tommy Bridewell has also been gaining momentum, and he’ s another home hero on a Ducati, while we hope that Jake Dixon will be back in action for Honda, having missed much of the season so far through injury.
There’ s further British interest in the FIM Supersport World Championship, with Tom Booth-Amos flying high, while British Supersport front-runner Luke Stapleford is gearing up for a wildcard appearance this weekend.
More racing will come from the FIM Yamaha BLU CRU World Cup and the FIM Women’ s Circuit Racing World Championship, with Britain’ s Chloe Jones impressing in the latter, sitting sixth in the standings heading into this weekend’ s event.
This event will be very busy away from the circuit too, and the free to visit Paddock Show and Victory Lane areas are amongst the most unique features of our season, while the open paddock allows for a closer look behind the scenes.
There’ s plenty more bike racing events to look forward to at Donington Park, with our many remaining 2026 highlights featuring in the pages of this souvenir programme.
I hope you enjoy your visit this weekend, and we look forward to welcoming you back to Donington Park again soon.
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