Nicolo Bulega won FIM Superbike World Championship Race One Saturday afternoon at Balaton Park Circuit, in Hungary. Bulega started from pole position and rode his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4R to a 2.53-second margin of victory in the 21-lap race.
His teammate, Iker Lecuona was the runner-up and Miguel Oliveira finished the race third on his ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team M1000RR.
Yari Montella got fourth on his Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati Panigale V4R and his teammate, Alvaro Bautista was fifth.
Danilo Petrucci crossed the finish line 11th on his ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team M1000RR.
American Garrett Gerloff got 13th on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR.
Nicolo Bulega leads the championship with 211 points, 74 ahead of Iker Lecuona who has 137 points. Sam Lowes is third with 89 points.
wsbk race 1
ChampionshipStandingsWSBK
More from a press release issued by WorldSBK:
Record-breaker: Bulega makes it 14 wins in a row with Race 1 victory, Lecuona recovers to podium finish ahead of Oliveira. The #11 made it 14 wins in a row after a dominant performance at Balaton Park, as teammate Lecuona and BMW’s Oliveira rounded out the rostrum.
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) has made MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship history with his Race 1 win at the Balaton Park Circuit. The #11 made it 14 consecutive wins after beating teammate Iker Lecuona by 2.5 seconds at the Motul Hungarian Round, breaking the record set by three-time WorldSBK Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu on two occasions. The podium was completed by Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) after he came out on top in an epic podium scrap.
MAKING HISTORY: Bulega makes it 14 wins in a row
As the lights went out, Bulega got away well from pole position, but the big mover was Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing), who went from seventh on the grid to second at Turn 1. Bulega quickly pulled out a two-second over the #67, while podium hopeful Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) had a high-speed crash on Lap 2 at Turn 8, forcing him out of the race. The #34 was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash. He was declared fit with contusions to his right elbow and knee. Lecuona made methodical progress throughout the race, passing Oliveira at Turn 1 on Lap 5 to move into fourth, before passing Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) at the same turn a lap later. On Lap 7, the #7 got ahead of Surra for P2 at Turn 1. That left him with a four-second gap to teammate Bulega, who was able to claim a record-breaking 14th win in a row, beating the previous record set by Razgatlioglu in 2024 and 2025. He has won 30 races for Ducati, only two behind Troy Bayliss for the Italian manufacturer, while it was his 23rd consecutive rostrum; he’s only two behind the all-time record set by Colin Edwards and Razgatlioglu. For Lecuona, it was his ninth podium, the fourth-highest number of rostrums without a win; drawing level with Leon Camier.
BATTLING FOR THE PODIUM: Oliveira on the rostrum, Surra impresses
The fight for third raged on between Surra, Montella and Oliveira. On Lap 9, Montella made a move on Turn 9 to get ahead of the #67, but Surra responded immediately at Turn 11 and forced the #5 wide, allowing Oliveira to move into P4. Soon, the #88 was into P3 when he got ahead of Surra at Turn 5, before Montella forced his way through at Turn 9. With Oliveira in P3, the podium fight calmed down, as the #88 secured his fourth WorldSBK rostrum; all of them have been third-place finishes. Montella had to settle for P4, with Surra dropping down the order.
FIGHTING FOR FIFTH: Alex Lowes vs Bautista once again
The battle for fifth also went to the end of the race between Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) and Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team), with the gap coming down over the latter stages of the race thanks to Bautista’s traditional late-race pace. The #19 made the move for P5 at Turn 1 on Lap 20 to snatch the place away from the British rider, who finished in sixth place.
SURRA FINISHES EIGHTH: A best result for the rookie
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) was able to convert his P5 grid position to a P7 finish as the lead Yamaha rider. He was ahead of Surra who dropped down the order as the race progressed to finish in eighth, ahead of the recovering Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team). The #14 was given a double Long Lap Penalty for a jump start, which he served on Laps 3 and 4, before fighting his way back through the field to claim a P9 finish.
A FIGHT TO THE END OF THE RACE: Scrapping over P10
The fight for tenth raged until the final lap with Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) taking it after a fight with Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team). The #47 ran onto the gravel at Turn 8 on the last lap and dropped out of points, with Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) one of the beneficiaries as he claimed P11. Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing) had been in the top ten throughout the majority of the race but finished in 12th, just 0.006s ahead of Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team). Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates) and Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) scored points by finishing P14 and P15.
FINISHING THE RACE: Just missing out on points
Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had a three-place grid penalty which forced him to start from 17th rather than 14th, and the Australian finished the race in 16th ahead of Bassano. Bahattin Sofuoglu (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) was 18th ahead of Somkiat Chantra (Honda HRC), Mattia Rato (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) and Yuki Kunii (Honda HRC).
The top six from WorldSBK Race 1, full results here:
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.538s
3. Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +12.584s
4. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +14.077s
5. Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) +15.032s
6. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +15.781s
Fastest lap: Nicolo Bulega (Ducati), 1’38.783s – new lap record
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