SBK: Lecuona curses the red flag, but he’s still missing something compared to Bulega

The Spaniard feels penalized by the stoppage of the first SBK race in France, but he knows he must find the tenths he’s missing compared to his teammate: on Sunday he hopes to gift himself a triumph.

Iker Lecuona gave everything, and it wasn’t enough to defeat Nicolò Bulega in Superbike Race 1 at Magny-Cours. After both starts he even managed to get ahead of his teammate, but then he was overtaken and had to settle for second place. Losing always hurts, especially when you’ve reached the ninth round of the calendar and you think it’s finally time to be closer to the level of the rider dominating the 2026 World Championship.

The Spaniard had won his first SBK race at Donington Park, where he also had the potential to take a triple, so he was determined to go toe-to-toe with Bulega. Since Friday he started riding a Ducati Panigale V4 R that’s quite different from the one he used in England, because he believes that to find the last tenths he’s missing he needs to do something different from before. Today he was defeated; on Sunday he’ll try to respond.

Lecuona believes the red flag penalized him, and that he would have had a better chance of going for the win if Superbike Race 1 hadn’t been temporarily stopped due to Tommy Bridewell’s crash: "Nicolò has something extra at the start of the race with a new tire; I felt stronger than him on a used tire. We need to understand why and find something. I don’t know if I would have won without the red flag, but I would have been closer. It came out, I tried to hold Nicolò back, but he had something more and got away. I’m happy I managed to control the gap to Sam Lowes, who is very strong at this track."

Bulega is a few tenths faster on a new tire; the Spaniard feels he has a better chance of threatening him in Race 2 than in Sunday morning’s sprint: "The Superpole Race will be hard to be there - he confirms - because Nicolò has something extra. In the long race, maybe yes, because I can manage the used tire better."

The 2026 Superbike world title is now in the hands of the Italian rider, but Lecuona is trying everything to beat him and better prepare for the challenges of 2027, when he will become the favorite to be crowned world champion (Bulega will go to MotoGP). Suffering numerous defeats to your teammate is always frustrating; the former Honda rider is giving 100% to prevent Race 1 at Donington Park from remaining his only victory of 2026.