Lecuona chases the perfect weekend, but what a scare at Cremona: "Almost into the wall!

The Spaniard earns top marks at the Cremona Circuit, where he’s putting a wrench in Bulega’s plans: the goal is to clinch his first SBK treble.

First in Friday’s free practice, pole position and then the Race 1 victory: Iker Lecuona is on fire in the tenth round of the 2026 Superbike calendar. He hadn’t taken P1 in Superpole since 2022, when he surprised everyone with Honda in Barcelona, while his only previous win before today came this year in Race 1 at Donington Park.

Unlike what happened in England, this time the Aruba.it Ducati Spaniard absolutely dominated. He rocketed off the line and steadily built a gap, crossing the finish with a 5.591s margin over Nicolò Bulega, who needed to gain 15 points on him to be crowned the 2026 SBK World Champion. In the Superpole Race he’ll need to gain 8; otherwise, the coronation will have to wait for Race 2. But number 7 fully intends to complete the perfect weekend by winning all the races in Italy and slightly spoiling his teammate’s party.

Lecuona can only be pleased with today’s triumph at the Cremona Circuit, but he also recalled a scare in the morning: "In Superpole I almost hit the wall. I lost my reference point coming out of the pit lane," he told the official WorldSBK website, "and I came up to the wall very fast; luckily I avoided it and managed to take pole position. I didn’t expect to get pole after that tough moment, but on Friday I felt very strong on the bike. We found something to improve the bike, this is the best I’ve ridden, today I used the same setup as yesterday."

The changes made to his Ducati Panigale V4 R worked, and the Valencian rider feels he has the bike completely in his hands in Italy; his task was to exploit it, and he did: "My pace was very strong; I had to stay calm and not make mistakes. I’m really happy. We’ll try to do the same tomorrow. Maybe I’ll be the favorite, but Nicolo always finds something and I’ll be there to fight. Maybe he’s thinking about the championship; I know he doesn’t like this track that much, but he has already won on tracks he doesn’t like very much. We’ll see. So far it’s a perfect weekend for me."

Lecuona knows he can’t underestimate a rider like Bulega, the dominant force of the 2026 Superbike season and determined to seize the world title at Cremona. Even if the Spaniard has shown a little extra over the first two days, Sunday could bring a different show. We’ll just have to wait.