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LAP RECORD OBLITERATED: Bulega claims Most pole in sensational fashion, Montella and Lecuona P2 and P3

Saturday, 16 May 2026 09:47 GMT

    • Montella had provisionally taken P1 in the 15-minute session, but Bulega smashed the lap record to make it five poles in five rounds

    Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) claimed pole position at the Autodrom Most in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship by destroying the existing lap record. The #11 was almost three tenths clear of Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) as he secured P1 at the Czech Round, while Bulega’s teammate, Iker Lecuona, completed the top three but was half-a-second down on his teammate.

    THE FIRST RUN

    A brief yellow flag was shown at Turn 1 when Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) crashed after he set his first time of 1’31.120s, with the #22 able to take his bike back to the pits. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) set a 1’30.201s to claim a provisional P1 ahead of Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team), before Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) set a 1’30.163s to take P1 – and lap a tenth away from the existing lap record at Most.

    MONTELLA TAKES THE FIGHT TO BULEGA

    Montella was the first to start his second stint and set a provisional pole time of a 1'30.051s, but Bulega smashed his time with a 1’29.616s to smash the lap record by more than four tenths to continue his unbeaten start to 2026 in Tissot Superpole sessions. Montella improved his time again to set a 1’29.896s but finished three tenths down on the #11. Lecuona was able to improve his time to a 1’30.127s but had to settle for P3. It’s Bulega’s 14th pole in WorldSBK, and his sixth in a row (including Jerez 2025), the third-best streak in WorldSBK history set by Doug Polen and Tom Sykes while Montella made it four front row starts out of five rounds in 2026. For Lecuona, it’s his third consecutive front row start.

    SURRA TAKES HIS BEST SUPERPOLE RESULT

    Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) used his second stint to climb up the order after posting a 1’30.339s to take fourth on the timesheets, with Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) backing up his Hungarian Round form in Czechia with P5, taking his best WorldSBK Superpole result so far. He set a 1’30.388s to take a second row start, and American star Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) will complete the second row after claiming P6.

    BASSANI AND MANZI SHINE

    Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) finished as the lead Bimota rider after securing P7 in Superpole, posting a 1’30.467s, and ‘El Bocia’ was just 0.050s away from a second row start. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) finished in eighth with Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in ninth and rookie Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) claiming lead Yamaha honours with P10.

    RACE 1 GRID CHANGES

    Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) set the 12th fastest time in Superpole but received a back of the grid penalty for improving his best sector time under yellow flags in FP3. Somkiat Chantra (Honda HRC) received the same sanction for the same offence, with the pair set to line up 20th and 21st on the Race 1 grid respectively.

    The top six from WorldSBK Superpole, full results here:

    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
    4. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.723s
    5. Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) +0.772s
    6. Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) +0.801

    Don’t miss Race 1 at Most at 09:40 Local Time (UTC+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now 30% off!