The 2026 FIM Sportbike World Championship was decided at Jerez, where Xavi Artigas secured the title despite finishing eighth in the final race. His closest rival, David Salvador, finished fourth. Artigas, riding for MTM Kawasaki, ended the season on 245 points to Salvador’s 237. The crown was settled by the advantage built across the campaign rather than by a victory on its final day.
The two contenders lined up close together, in seventh and eighth on the grid. Salvador took the lead as early as lap two, but the fight through the pack kept changing their positions. Artigas briefly reached the podium places before running wide at Turn 13 and dropping to eighth. He stayed there to the flag. Salvador recovered to fourth, a stronger race result that still could not erase the championship gap.
Carter Thompson won the race, finishing 4.565 seconds ahead of Antonio Torres, with Pepe Osuna third. It was Thompson’s second victory of the season and helped him secure third in the final standings. The Jerez finale showed two races unfolding at once: one for the chequered flag at the front, and another in which Artigas needed to protect just enough of his season-long lead to take the title.