Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) continued where he left off in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship as he topped the Free Practice 1 timesheets despite an electrical issue costing him a bit of time at the start of the session. ‘Bulegas’ was almost three tenths clear of his rivals at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours as WorldSBK resumed after the summer break with the Acerbis French Round.
Bulega slowly brought his Panigale V4 R machine back to pits in the first five minutes after suffering from the gremlins, but his team were able to fix the problem quickly, while a red flag meant he only lost a few laps compared to his rivals. ‘Bulegas’ set a 1'35.556s as he secured top spit in FP1, finishing ahead of Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team). The #14 had spent a lot of time at the top of the timesheets, but had to settle for second, 0.284s behind Bulega. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) finished in third with a 1’35.989s.
Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) put in a very late lap to finish fourth in Free Practice 1 with a 1’36.035s, just half-a-second behind Bulega, using a new SCX tyre to haul himself up the order. Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) claimed fifth at the circuit where he took his one and only WorldSSP rostrum at last year, 0.615s away from ‘Bulegas’, with Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) completing the top six with just a few hundredths separating him and Surra.
Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) finished in seventh place ahead of Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), with the #9 claiming P8 with a 1’36.511s as the lead BMW rider in the first session of the weekend. Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) finished in ninth with Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) rounding out the top ten.
Bahattin Sofuoglu (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) had a crash at Turns 1 and 2 in the first six minutes of the session, which briefly brought out the red flags to allow gravel to be cleared from the track. He was able to bring his bike back to the pits and return to track action later on.
The top six from WorldSBK FP1, full results here:
- Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) 1’35.556s
- Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.284s
- Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) +0.433s
- Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) +0.479s
- Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) +0.615s
- Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.652s
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