Nicolo Bulega WorldSBK rival vows “this is the first step” after Superpole threat

Iker Lecuona came close to his first WorldSBK pole position in Superpole at Portimao, but despite missing out he vowed that “this is the first step” on his route to the front of the field in Portugal.

Lecuona joined Ducati alongside Nicolo Bulega for this season, replacing two-time World Superbike Champion Alvaro Bautista, who qualified 11th in Portimao.

The Spaniard was solid but not exceptional in the opening round of the season in Australia, finishing all three races but not taking a podium at the circuit where the Ducati is arguably at its most potent. Plus, he qualified as the slowest of all the Ducatis in the field in Australia, behind all the satellite bikes as well as Bulega.

In Portugal, though, he was much improved, and led the Superpole session from the beginning with a record lap time of 1m39.077s, 0.004 seconds better than Toprak Razgatlioglu’s record from 2025.

He improved on that with his second tyre and set the first ever 1m38s lap on a Superbike at Portimao. But it was a time that would be bettered by Bulega on the Italian’s final lap, the championship leader dropping the lap record down to a 1m38.495s.

Despite missing out, Leucona was happy with his performance and felt it marked the “first step” of his weekend.

“I’m really happy with the job, honestly,” said Iker Lecuona, speaking to the WorldSBK world feed broadcast in parc ferme after Superpole.

“I need to learn about the bike, I need to learn about the team. 

“We did a really good improvement. I said from yesterday that my performance here will increase a lot because I like the track, I feel good, we learn, I know what I need to work on at home. 

“Honestly, we did a really good lap, but also I need to say that the team did a really good job on the bike that is almost the best bike right now; I start to ride with my style. 

“I’m very comfortable, so thanks to my family, to my wife, to my friends, to the team of course. Let’s see. This is the first step, let’s see in the race.”

Bulega: “We improved a lot”

Bulega himself was happy enough with his performance, taking his second pole of the season and his third in succession after his pole in Jerez last October.

The Italian said on Friday that he felt uncomfortable on the bike, but after Superpole he felt he had made good improvements.

“A good lap,” Bulega reviewed, speaking in his parc ferme TV interview.

“I think we improved a lot from yesterday, so I’m happy for that and I hope to improve again for the race. 

“But the pace is good, so I’m happy and I’m confident for the race.”

Montella “not too happy”

Third place for Yari Montella marked his second front row from two rounds this year.

But the Italian wasn’t fully satisfied with his performance owing to some mistakes he felt he made around the lap.

“Honestly, I’m not too happy because I made some mistakes during the lap,” he said in parc ferme.

“I made just some mistakes at turn three, turn five, and turn 15, honestly because I passed under the finish line and I saw that I had just one lap to the end and I was a bit nervous. 

“But at the end I was focused on trying to finish the lap as [best as possible].”