Spanish rider Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) was beaten to the top step of the podium in each of the three races of the Tissot Estoril round; a frustrating result for the #7 after developing a taste for first place at Cremona. The #7 had high hopes for the weekend at the Circuito Estoril given his prior Honda HRC successes here in past seasons, but he kept his riding clean for his 25th silver medal of the season, building on the record he took from Toprak Razgatlioglu's 2023 season.
OUTGUNNED ON SATURDAY
Lecuona came up just over a tenth and a half shy of his second Tissot Superpole pole position on Saturday behind teammate Nicolo Bulega's 1’33.884s circuit record-setting time. In each of the weekend’s races, he enjoyed very strong jumps off the line at lights out, taking P1 into T1 in Race 1. Lecuona could hardly savour the feeling however, as the #11 took back the lead on the longest start/finish straight on the calendar on the run into Lap 3’s first corner. From there, Bulega put the hammer down to close Saturday in P1 ahead of him, growing his gap from half a second on Lap 5 to more than two seconds on Lap 10, and finishing the race nearly four seconds clear of Lecuona.
“YOU ARRIVE AT AROUND 320KM/H DOWN TO AROUND 70KM/H… AT LEAST I DIDN’T GO INTO THE GRAVEL”
Lecuona came into Sunday morning’s Tissot Superpole Race optimistic; he felt like he had the pace to beat him in the 10-lap contest. Again, the #7 beat his teammate into Turn 1 at the start, but Bulega passed him in Turn 1 of Lap 3 as Lecuona clamped a bit too hard on his brake lever, putting his bike out of shape and bucking his rear wheel up off the ground. Lecuona was forced to let off the lever slightly and rode wide as the #11 sailed clear. Lecuona worked the margin back to just seven tenths over the remaining laps, but it was too little too late for the Spanish rider.
On the moment that, in his mind, cost Lecuona the win, he said: “It was a hard weekend. I made a huge mistake in the Superpole Race. I think I had the pace to win or at least fight with Nicolo 100%, but I lost the option with that huge moment into Turn 1. It was a bit scary. I braked a bit too aggressively, not too much, but with the wind pushing us from the rear and the side, the rear popped up a bit more. When the rear came back down, all you can do as a rider is to release the brake a bit. You arrive at around 320km/h down to around 70km/h; sixth gear to first gear, the speed you carry is too much to stop, at least I didn’t go into the gravel.
“NICOLO ALSO MADE SMALL MISTAKES, BUT HE WAS FASTER THAN ME ALL WEEKEND”
In Race 2, Lecuona, for the third and final time at Estoril, fired off the line for the holeshot. However, Bulega this time answered back on Turn 6 of the opening lap. The gap to P1 ahead of the #7 slowly ticked upwards as the race continued. Half a second by Lap 6, before Bulega broke it open to a second and a half on Lap 9. Despite holding sub-1’36s pace until Lap 15 – seven laps longer than any rider behind him – Bulega managed three laps more at that spectacular pace and finished the weekend 4.9s clear of Lecuona.
On his “frustrating” final week of the round and looking at the final round of the season Lecuona said: “We thought we found something on the bike, but we confirmed that in the long race that isn’t the case. After the first 10 laps in Race 2, I almost went to the gravel at Turn 2. Nicolo also made small mistakes, but he was faster than me all weekend. I struggled a lot, I’m very frustrated. I couldn’t find the feeling I had at Cremona. We had two days of testing before that round, whereas here it was a new track on this bike for me, that cost us. In Race 2, Nicolo found something, and we didn’t find anything for Race 2. I know at Jerez I struggle a bit, and I know that winning there will be difficult because Nicolo loves it, but we will go to work and see if we find something.”
Can Lecuona close the final round of his first season in factory Ducati red on top of the podium? Tune in on Friday, October 16th to find out with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now just €9.99!