Championship leader Nicolo Bulega endured a difficult start to the Italian Round at the 3.768km Cremona Circuit, with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider crashing in both Friday sessions.
Bulega, who could secure his first Superbike World Championship in Race 1 this weekend, crashed at Turn 10 in the morning before ending his afternoon with a Turn 8 incident.
While it was a challenging day for Bulega, his teammate, Iker Lecuona, topped both sessions to lead the combined times.
The Spaniard ended the day more than a quarter of a second clear of Bulega and completed the most laps of any rider.
Lecuona’s strong start to the weekend saw him consistently set the pace, with the Spaniard leading the way in three of the four sectors.
Having previously enjoyed strong results at Cremona with Honda, including several top-six finishes, Lecuona immediately demonstrated his pace on the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Panigale V4 R.
Ducati once again dominated the timesheets, with the top seven positions on the combined classification occupied by Panigale V4 R riders.
Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) was the leading Independent rider in third, with the Italian rookie completing 36 laps and finishing ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team).
The afternoon session was interrupted by an early red flag after Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) crashed at Turn 1.
Once the session resumed, Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) also crashed at Turn 6, while Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) fell at Turn 11 late in the session. Bulega’s Turn 8 crash was the final major incident of the day.
Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) was the leading non-Ducati rider in eighth position, finishing eight tenths of a second behind Lecuona.
P1 – Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“I’m very happy with the job we did today. The team did a really good job on the bike and I did a really good job on track. I like the strategy and I have had good results here in the past. That gives me extra motivation but I need to say even though I felt well with the bike but there were still some issues. The bike wasn’t very consistent in FP1 so we wanted to try something different on the bike in the afternoon. In the second session it was the first time I can say that I rode the Ducati the way that I wanted to.”
P2 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“The feeling wasn’t the best. I wasn’t able to ride like I wanted to so we are working to improve it. Iker was strong here last year with his old bike, so I think it’s a track that he likes a lot. I think if I can ride at 100%, I can stay with him. Superpole is always important but here, as the first corners are a bit small, it’s important to get a good grid position tomorrow. At the moment, I’m just angry about today and focused on getting a good feeling back with the bike and then I will think about the other things.”
P3 – Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing)
“I’m very happy because this is a home circuit. It’s very difficult because a lot of riders are fast here. In the morning we were able to improve another thing for the setup and it’s very positive. My goal is a podium this weekend but we have to work step by step. Tomorrow, Superpole will be more important because Cremona is a small circuit and passing is not very easy. Yes, it’s very important to stay in the first and second row, and the goal is this.”
Combined Results after FP2
1. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’28.108s
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.254s
3. Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) +0.461s
4. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) +0.474s
5. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.644s
6. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.739s
