2025 Italian WorldSBK: Race 2 As It Happened

After a strong defensive performance yesterday, a jump start hampered Andrea Iannone in the Superpole Race this morning and leaves him down in eighth on the grid for this afternoon's race - he's probably the rider to lose out the most on the Race 2 grid versus those set by yesterday's Superpole session.

Danilo Petrucci was another beneficiary of the Superpole Race.

Having qualified 13th for Race 1 and the Superpole Race, Petrucci was able to advance up to sixth place this morning and will start from the back of the second row.

A podium will surely be the target from there for the rider who won all three races at Cremona last year.

Every winner creates a loser, and for Bautista's advancement of his grid position the loser is Sam Lowes, who drops from the front row to the second.

Lowes was solid this morning, challenging Bautista for the podium but just unable to find a way through around what is proving to be a tough circuit for passing.

The starts have been the weakest point for Lowes so far this weekend, and starting further back compared to the two races so far will only increase the importance on his launch.

While Bulega and Razgatlioglu maintain their grid positions from Superpole after the Superpole Race, Alvaro Bautista benefitted from this morning's 10-lapper to advance his grid position from fourth to third.

The Spaniard hasn't had the speed to go with Bulega and Razgatlioglu so far this weekend, but a podium should be the target here for the two-time champion.

Nicolo Bulega is back on pole for Race 2 after a commanding win in the Superpole Race.

Bulega was dominant in yesterday's Race 1, too, winning out in an early battle with Toprak Razgatlioglu and going on to win by a comfortably 2.8 seconds.

Razgatlioglu starts second for this Race 2, but will need dramatic improvements over what we've seen from him so far this weekend in order to challenge Bulega.

Welcome back to live coverage of Sunday’s action at the Italian WorldSBK from Cremona Circuit.

Race 2 is coming up in around 20 minutes at 14:00 local time, and pit lane has just opened for the riders to complete their sighting lap.

Italian WorldSBK Results - Superpole Race

It's victory for Nicolo Bulega in the Superpole Race here in Cremona.

He's just managed that 1.5-second advantage in the second half of the race over Razgatlioglu, who takes second place 4.5s clear of Bautista who beats Lowes to third place.

Vierge rounds out the top-five, ahead of Petrucci, Locatelli, Iannone and van der Mark who round out that all-important top-nine.

Lecuona has crashed at turn two. That's two crashes in two races for the Spaniard. 

Van der Mark should be safe in ninth now.

Tarran Mackenzie has crashed.

Three laps to go and there's not much change at the front. Lowes strugglin to get closer than within 0.4s of Bautista.

Interesting battle further back between Iannone, van der Mark, and Lecuona in 8th, 9th, and 10th. One of them will miss out on points and a position on the front three rows for Race 2.

Over a second now for Bulega, but Lowes is continuing to pressure Bautista for third place with four laps to go now. Only a few tenths between them.

That Iannone long lap has freed Sam Lowes up in fourth place, and he's caught Bautista for third.

Half-a-second now for Bulega and it looks like race run at the front.

Iannone has been given a double long lap penalty for a jump start. He's just served the first of those.

Bulega continues to lead. You feel Razgatlioglu would pass if he could, but Bulega is too strong through turns eight, nine, and 10 onto the back straight, so he's too far back entering those final three corners.

1:28.063 from Bulega on lap two there a new race lap record.

Bulega continues to lead but it's only a couple of tenths between him and Razgatlioglu.

Stretching out at the front already with a gap back behind Razgatlioglu to Bautista, and from Bautista to Iannone and Lowes.

A lot of battling further back into the final corners further back, particularly between van der Mark and Lecuona, has helped Petrucci already get up to eighth spot.

Razgatlioglu not close enough to pass in the final complex and Bulega leads the opening lap ahead of the BMW rider and Bautista.

It's lights out for the Superpole Race, and it's a holeshot for Bulega ahead of Razgatlioglu. Another poor start from Sam Lowes who's back to fifth behind Bautista and Iannone.

The riders are off on their warm-up lap in Cremona.

Just five minutes away from the Superpole Race in Cremona, and it's a race that last year was won by Danilo Petrucci.

The Italian, though, is only 13th on the grid after a poor performance in Superpole. He was able to come through to seventh yesterday, and a spot in the top-nine here will be crucial for Petrucci to give him a better chance of battling for the top-five in Race 2 this afternoon.

While Razgatlioglu is the obvious choice for the rider most likely to deprive Bulega of his sixth victory of the season this morning, Sam Lowes has had the best pace behind the Italian during practice.

Yesterday, we thought Lowes' drop backwards to 12th place from second on the grid was about the illness he has been dealing with this weekend, but it has since become clear that it was actually a gear selection issue that was hampering the Marc VDS Ducati rider in Race 1.

With those issues hopefully resolved, it will be interesting to see if the British rider can insert himself in the Bulega-Razgatlioglu battle we're anticipating at the front.

Toprak Razgatlioglu was Bulega's closest challenger yesterday afternoon but ultimately didn't have the long-term pace to stick with the Italian.

The shorter race distance this morning could aid the reigning champion's chances of taking victory for the first time since Portimao Race 2.