WorldSBK: With blue skies and a track temperature of almost 40°C the conditions were good on the opening day at the Balaton Park Circuit where Ducati continued their strong run of form to start the campaign.
Iker Lecuona led home an Aruba.it Racing – Ducati one-two around the 4.075km circuit.
Lecuona led the way in both sessions, and completed 38 laps, at the Hungarian venue and looked strong and consistent to lead his teammate, Nicolo Bulega, by one tenth of a second on the combined practice times. His strong form was shown from FP1 when he set his fastest time of the morning on the final lap of a ten lap stint. In the afternoon he was the fastest rider in three of the four sectors as he chases his first victory of the season.
Bulega, winner of 13 consecutive races, ended the day second fastest narrowly ahead of Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team). The trio of Ducati’s locked out the podium at the previous round and look to once again have an edge on the field.
The performance of the Ducati V4R was proven with Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team Goeleven), Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) and the Barni Spark Racing Team duo of Yari Montella and Alvaro Bautista. With Ducati holding the top seven times of the day it was Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) who was their closest challenger.
Miguel Oliveira was ninth fastest for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team while his teammate, Danilo Petrucci, was hampered by a late crash at Turn 3. The Italian was 15th fastest and will need to undergo a medical check on his left wrist before FP3 tomorrow.
P1 – Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“I’m happy with the performance today. I struggled a bit physically because I was quite sick yesterday so I had to rest this morning. My energy isn’t the same as normal but the feeling with the bike was really good. We made some small changes to the bike and they worked well. I set my best lap at the end of the session on the same tyre so that shows our consistency. Overall I’m very happy. I’m not the favourite but in racing you never know what can happen. I’m closer to Nicolo here which is a good step compared to the first rounds. I feel ready to fight.”
P2 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“It wasn’t so bad today and compared to last year, when I struggled a lot on Friday, I feel much better today. I needed to adapt a little bit of my riding style to this track. I’m quite happy overall because we made a step with the bike even if I’m not at 100 percent yet. There are still some areas, especially in the chicanes, where we can improve but the base is good. It was a positive first day and if we can make another step tomorrow, I think we can fight for the win.”
P3 – Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team)
“It was a good day for us. It took a bit of time to get going this morning but I started to feel better as the sessions went on. I tried a longer run and made a few mistakes, especially in the chicane, but the pace wasn’t bad. I need to find a few tenths in some areas, particularly in sector two, and to improve my consistency. We seem to be missing a bit compared to Iker and Nicolo so we’ll analyse everything tonight and try to make a step. I’m confident we can be closer tomorrow.”
Combined Results after FP2
1. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’38.860s
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.103s
3. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.141s
4. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) +0.437s
5. Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) +0.522s
6. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.621s
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