Iker Lecuona thought Dutch WorldSBK Race 1 was "my chance" to beat Bulega

If Alex Marquez was ‘Mr P2’ during the opening rounds of the 2025 MotoGP season, countryman Iker Lecuona has settled into a similar role in the early WorldSBK rounds.

While Nicolo Bulega has won all seven races, including Saturday’s opening contest at Assen, Lecuona has now finished runner-up to his team-mate for the last four races in a row.

However, a mid-race shower at Assen offered Lecuona his closest chance yet to end Bulega’s reign.

The Spaniard took a risk and capitalised on the tricky conditions to catch and pass Bulega for the lead on lap 15 of 21.

But Bulega regained momentum as the conditions improved and re-passed Lecuona with three laps to go.

“I'm really happy, again P2,” Lecuona told the official WorldSBK website.

“When the rain arrived, it was quite strong, and I knew Nicolo would think more about the championship.

“Of course, I'm P2, so I need to think about the championship also but I said ‘maybe it's my chance’. I like a lot those tricky conditions, so why not take the risk?

“I recovered time and overtook him, but then later my front tyre dropped a lot and I started to struggle.

“It was fun to play with him in the race, when he overtook me, I tried to overtake again because I think it's my chance to win in the race.

“But in any case, I'm really happy. We finished close. Let's see tomorrow if we can be even closer.

“We were a little bit like elastic today, he's faster in some sectors, I'm faster in another one. So I need to do another step.

"Still I miss something. So let's try something for tomorrow.”

Lecuona, who took the chequered flag 1.6s behind Bulega, is now 61 points behind the Italian in the world championship but 23 ahead of third place Miguel Oliveira (BMW).