Bulega Wins Superpole Again as Lecuona Takes Second Once More

Nicolò Bulega claimed another Superpole victory at Magny-Cours, while his Ducati teammate Iker Lecuona again finished second. Yari Montella completed the podium after Sam Lowes crashed out of contention.

Bulega started from pole after setting the fastest lap on Saturday in 1:35.030, a new record. He and Lecuona fought closely through the first three laps, coming so near to each other that a collision appeared possible. Lecuona eventually had to leave more space, costing him time to his teammate.

Lecuona briefly took the lead for two laps, but Bulega opened a gap of more than half a second over the chasing group on the first lap. Lowes was running in a podium position before his fall changed the order. Álvaro Bautista also survived a scare after running slightly wide and finished ninth, 17.530 seconds behind the winner.

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I did not intend to hit him, so I had to make the decision to let him go. I knew the Superpole would be difficult against Nicolò, but I keep trying and I am improving little by little.

Bulega crossed the line in 15:52.648, ahead of Lecuona in 15:54.721 and Montella in 15:58.048. The result gave them 12, 9 and 7 points respectively. Bulega now leads the championship with 528 points, followed by Lecuona on 387 and Montella on 198. The Italian and his teammate have now finished in that order 21 times.

Lecuona said he did not intend to hit Bulega and chose to let him go, while insisting he was continuing to improve. Bulega said the race had again been highly competitive at the start, but he knew he needed to be faster to pull away. The victory extended his run to 39 consecutive podiums.

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The race was like yesterday, very competitive with Iker at the beginning, but then I knew I had to be faster to pull away.