SBK: Bulega vs Lecuona, a scorching Misano with MotoGP in sight and a return

Nicolò Bulega so far has been racing against himself more than against anyone else. Iker Lecuona, his teammate in the factory Ducati, is a solid opponent, but always a step below. But the seventh place in MotoGP at Balaton Park gave him a huge boost. Is Misano setting us up for a real head-to-head?

Iker Lecuona hadn’t raced in the top class for three years, but on the Gresini team’s Desmosedici, standing in for Alex Marquez, he immediately felt right at home. The brilliant GP result was also helped by the first-lap pile-up, but even if everything had gone smoothly, we’d still be talking about a stellar performance. Lecuona, the last one in, finished with half the top-class grid behind him.

The Superbike lieutenant shattered the preconceptions. The tough landing of Toprak Razgatlioglu has rekindled the age-old skepticism toward Superbike riders. Newcomer fans don’t look at the details, just social media hype, so it gets overlooked that Yamaha is struggling so much it’s dulled even the fire of a superstar (and former world champion) like Fabio Quartararo. Imagine the degree of difficulty the Turk is facing: beyond lacking technical potential, he doesn’t know the tracks or the tires. With a competitive MotoGP bike, Lecuona was fast right away, even though he still hasn’t won in Superbike, despite three years as a Honda HRC factory rider and now having the best bike and the best team on the grid. If Toprak were riding a Ducati in MotoGP, we’d be telling a different story.

Iker’s seventh place in Hungary is great news for Nicolò Bulega as well. If the defeated rider is this strong, how far can the one who has never given Lecuona any quarter go next year? It’s also worth noting that the Superbike leader will arrive in MotoGP on the factory Ducati in VR46 colors, with the advantage of having logged thousands of kilometers in the development tests currently underway. Add in his familiarity with the Pirelli “system,” even though the 2027 MotoGP tires will be technologically very different from what Bulega is using in Superbike. Lecuona’s seventh wasn’t a bolt from the blue like Troy Bayliss’s wild-card triumph at Valencia 2006, but it surely was a nice shot of self-confidence for the entire Superbike paddock.

Even without ever having won, Iker is a thoroughbred racer. Not everyone can take fifteen defeats from their teammate and never waver. Lecuona hasn’t put a foot wrong. He’s been careful on track and also in his public and private dealings within the box. If you ride the best factory bike, you want to win, no question. But Iker is patiently waiting for his moment. Whether it comes at Misano or next year, without Bulega in the way, nobody knows. Least of all him.

Nicolò has won all eighteen races this season, in addition to the last four of the previous one. An impressive streak, with a flurry of statistical records already shattered. Now he’s eyeing the 75 podiums achieved by Marco Melandri, the record among Italian riders in Superbike. Bulega is just one shy. To reach that milestone, the Ravenna rider needed 204 races; Nicolò has contested only 90, winning 38. Those are numbers of an absolute superstar. Add that with the new Panigale V4 R, the new Cannibal is smashing lap records both on a single lap and, especially, over race distance. Bulega is in monster mode; for Iker Lecuona to win, he’ll have to raise the bar even higher.

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