News

Bulega holds off title rival Razgatlioglu again at home at Cremona for P1 in Superpole Race

Sunday, 4 May 2025 09:44 GMT

After a blazing start at lights out, not even ‘El Turco’ could remain in striking distance of his title rival Nicolo Bulega 

Sunday MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship racing action kicked off at Cremona for their first race of the weekend’s final day. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) made it two for two in his home country, running away from Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in P2 and his teammate Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) who finished P3.

BULEGA SETS TABLE FOR HOME HAT TRICK: ‘Bulegas’ entered Cremona having never won in Italy, now he may make it 3 for 3 at home in 2025

Bulega flew off the line from pole position to claim the holeshot and protect his P1, Razgatlioglu gave chase from his P3 starting position to claim an early P2, and similar to Saturday’s Race 1, while he was able to keep up for a handful of laps, Bulega pulled away to a margin of a 1.631s by the outset of lap 8. Razgatlioglu couldn’t hold tight to Bulega, however he still had the pace to maintain his position above the rest of the grid, finishing with a four and a half second margin ahead of Bautista in P3.

BAUTISTA BEST OF THE REST: P3 for the two-time Champion

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) benefitted from a slow jump off the line from Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), the British rider lost his P2 start position, overtaken early by Bautista and Razgatlioglu who he couldn’t catch by the end of the 10 laps. Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) notched another P5, replicating his Race 1 result to again tie his best result of the season. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) earned a P6 for his best result so far of the weekend.

IANNONE VS VAN DER MARK: the Italian and the Dutchman duelled in the second half of the Superpole Race

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) finished one position ahead of his P8 starting position, just under a quarter a of a second ahead of fellow Italian Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven). Iannone looked to again have made incremental progress with his setup, as after a Race 1 P4 he looks to be getting back to his 2024 placements. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) earned a hard-fought P9, engaging in duels with Iannone and Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) up until Lecuona’s unfortunate Turn 2 lowside crash during Lap 9.

The top nine from the WorldSBK Superpole Race, full results here!

1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +1.456s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) +6.060s
4. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +7.154s
5. Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) +10.838s
6. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +11.328s
7. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) +12.267s
8. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven) +12.864s
9. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +13.362s
Fastest lap: Nicolo Bulega (Ducati) – 1’27.980s – new lap record

Tune in later this afternoon at 14:00 (Local time UTC +2) live with the WorldSBK VideoPass!