WorldSBK: Lecuona brings an end to Bulega’s domination
Iker Lecuona claimed his maiden WorldSBK victory with a stunning lights-to-flag performance at Donington Park, bringing Nicolo Bulega’s remarkable winning streak to an end.
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider seized the holeshot into Redgate and controlled all 23 laps despite relentless pressure from his championship-leading teammate.
Race 1 Highlights
Bulega’s run of 25 consecutive race victories came to an end, but only after an enthralling battle between the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati teammates. Never separated by more than half a second, Bulega held the advantage through the opening sectors before Lecuona repeatedly responded in the slower final sector. Bulega launched attacks into the Old Hairpin and Melbourne Loop on several occasions but each time Lecuona responded to secure his first WorldSBK win by just 0.165 seconds.
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Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) completed an all-Ducati podium after recovering from a difficult opening lap. Starting third, the Italian slipped behind Sam and Alex Lowes after losing momentum at the Old Hairpin but fought his way back into the podium positions before establishing a comfortable advantage over the chasing group.
Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth, while Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates) equalled his best result of the season with an impressive fifth position.
Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) finished as the leading non-Ducati rider in seventh. After running as high as fourth during the opening stages, the British rider spent much of the race inside the top six before Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) moved ahead in the closing laps.
P1 – Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“As you can imagine I’m really, really happy. From the first lap to the last I was leading the race and I had a really good battle with Nicolo. I think on the third or fourth lap he tried to overtake me at Turn 11 but he ran wide and I stayed in front. At the start of the race it felt a bit strange because it was my first time leading for so many laps in a race. I didn’t have any reference in front of me so it was quite tricky at first. But I’m happy because my pace was fast and consistent. I’m really happy with Ducati and this gives me extra confidence. I don’t crash when I ride on the limit and I can save a lot of moments with this bike. I think I’ve only had two crashes this season, both while trying something new, so overall I’m really happy. Let’s see tomorrow if we can fight for another victory.”
P2 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“Second isn’t a bad result and congratulations to Iker because he deserved this victory. Congratulations to him and his team because they simply did a better job than us today. Second is a good result for us and I tried as hard as I could but today I was at 90% and Iker was at 100%. The first part of the circuit suits my riding style because I can ride more or less how I want to ride. In the last sector, with the two hairpins, I was missing a lot of acceleration on the exits. In first and second gear Iker was gaining maybe two tenths every corner. Then I had to recover that time under braking. I was always too far back to make a clean overtake. I just missed those few tenths, and I hope to find them for tomorrow.”
P3 – Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team)
“It was a good Saturday and we enjoyed it. This morning we were fast and I think this weekend we have been faster than ever because our pace in Race 1 was also good. I felt quite strong and quite fast whenever I had clear track. It’s a shame that on the first lap I had to battle with the home riders, the Lowes twins, because I lost a bit of time. But I stayed calm and said to myself, ‘We need to build our race lap by lap and try to come back to the podium.’ That’s exactly what happened, so it was a positive race, we had good pace and now we also have some useful data for tomorrow’s races.”
Race 1 Results
1. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.165s
3. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +.6.711s
4. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) 11.668s
5. Tommy Bridewell (Superbikes Advocates) +14.272s
6. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) +16.830s
Fastest lap: – Nicolo Bulega (Ducati) 1’25.491s, new lap record
Superpole Highlights
Nicolo Bulega continued his exceptional qualifying form by securing a record ninth consecutive WorldSBK pole position. Although pushed hard by teammate Iker Lecuona, the championship leader maintained his perfect qualifying record with a margin of just 0.052 seconds.
Yari Montella completed an all-Ducati front row, claiming his fifth front-row start of the season. Sam Lowes qualified as the leading British rider, while wildcard Jonathan Rea (Honda HRC) secured tenth place on the grid.
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’24.410s
2. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.052s
3. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.198s
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