WorldSBK: A red flag caused a delay to the Superbike race at Autodrom Most but it wasn’t enough to halt Nicolo Bulega’s domination of the class.
Having claimed pole position he went on to lead home an Aruba.it Racing – Ducati one-two in Race 1.
Race 1 Highlights
Having started from pole position Bulega led from the start but a Turn 13 crash for Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) brought out the red flag. It was a heavy impact for the Italian rider, who has been ruled out for the rest of the weekend. During medical checks in Most hospital, Petrucci was diagnosed with a fracture of the coccyx.
When the race restarted Bulega led the way for the first 14 laps but was under constant pressure from his teammate, Iker Lecuona. On the next lap it was Lecuona in front but the Ducati duo continued to battle. With three laps to go it was settled in Bulega’s favour.
Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) rounded out the podium and a Ducati lockout of the top three positions. The Italian was in second position on the grid and held that position for the opening laps before Lecuona came through. By the chequered flag it was a lonely race for Montella as he was comfortably ahead of the battle behind him.
Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) ended the race in fourth position, his best finish of the season, ahead of Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team). The duo took advantage of a Long Lap Penalty for Alberto Surra with the Motocorsa Racing adjudged to have caused an accident for Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) in their fight for fourth position in the early stages of the 21 lap race.
P1 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“It was a very tough race because Iker was really strong today. I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the bike and I was missing some feeling in the slower corners. I also had a small issue with the front brake and at this track the braking is very critical. We need to check everything and try to improve for tomorrow. I really enjoyed the battle with Iker but in the last three laps, once I overtook him, I just focused on my pace and tried to forget the small problems and push as hard as possible to create a gap.”
P2 – Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“We had a really good pace, honestly much faster than I expected. It was difficult to overtake because we have the same bike but we have completely different riding styles. Nicolo is stronger in some places and I am stronger in other areas. The main issue for me was that I had to push a lot on the tyre in the opening laps to recover the gap to Nicolo. In the final laps I started to struggle with the tyre and I almost crashed a couple of times trying to stay close to him. On the last lap I told myself it was better to bring home second place. I’m really happy with my performance because it’s the first time we really fought together in a race from start to finish and that is a very positive step.”
P3 – Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team)
“In Superpole I was able to push well and finish very close to the front. I was only two tenths away from P1 and that’s a positive result for me. I knew the race would be different because the pace changes a lot over race distance. I tried to follow Nicolo and Iker for the opening laps but during the race I struggled with movement on the bike. This made things more difficult for me and in the end it was important to finish the race. We collected data and can understand what we can improve for tomorrow.”
Race 1 Results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.330s
3. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +11.222s
4. Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) +14.094s
5. Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +14.568s
6. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) +15.168s
Fastest lap: Iker Lecuona (Ducati), 1’30.562s
Superpole Highlights
Bulega smashed the lap record with a time of 1’29.616 to claim his fifth Superpole out of five this season. It was a Ducati top five lockout with Montella and Lecuona joining Bulega on the front row.
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Garrett Gerloff qualified a season’s best sixth aboard his Kawasaki ZX-10RR. The American, fastest man during Friday practice, has been in good form all weekend.
Axel Bassani lined up seventh on the grid as the leading bimota. His teammate, Alex Lowes, crashed during the early moments of the session and qualified on the fifth row. Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) was a crasher earlier in the day in Free Practice 3 and was ruled out for the rest of the weekend through injury.
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’29.616s
2. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.280s
3. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.495s
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