09:00
Loris Veneman currently leading the WorldSPB times with six minutes remaining on a 1m42.792s. That's about four seconds faster than the WorldSSP300 pole position time from Superpole last year, which was a 1m48.112s.
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 Dutch WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
2026 Dutch WorldSBK Friday Practice Reaction: Bulega sweeps day one
Updates from the Friday practice sessions from the Dutch WorldSBK at the TT Circuit Assen.
Live coverage of the 2026 Dutch WorldSBK at Assen, the third round of the 2026 season. FP1 is due to start at 10:20 local time; FP2 is coming up this afternoon at 15:00.
Key moments
- Bulega fastest in FP2
- Ducati 1-2-3
- Petrucci top non-Ducati in 4th
- Bulega the first rider into the 1m33s in FP1
FP1 this morning saw Nicolo Bulega fastest ahead of Iker Lecuona and Sam Lowes in an all-Ducati top-three. The Italian enters the Dutch Round this weekend with a 56-point championship lead over his teammate, Lecuona, who was second in all three races at the last round in Portimao, his best World Superbike weekend to date.
Bulega, though is unbeaten this season despite rain in Race 2 at Phillip Island and an imperfect feeling with the bike at Portimao that he hopes he will be able to rectify this weekend in Assen.
Ducati is one of two manufacturers to be hit with a reduction in maximum fuel flow this weekend, along with Bimota. Both are 0.5kg/h lower than in the first two rounds of the season, meaning 44.5kg/h for Ducati and 45.5kg/h for Bimota.
Bimota were eighth and 11th in FP1, Alex Lowes the fastest of the two KB998 riders, while Axel Bassani just under 0.2 seconds slower than his teammate.
Miguel Oliveira jumped up to fourth in the standings three weeks ago when he finished third in all three races, but he acknowledged ahead of the weekend that Assen is not necessarily the best track layout for the characteristics of the BMW M1000 RR, whose best dry weather result last year in the Netherlands was fourth.
The Portuguese rider was 12th-fastest in FP1 after a crash at turn 10 with 12 minutes to go. His teammate, Danilo Petrucci, also crashed, although it was the final chicane for the Italian who finished the session sixth overall.
Jake Dixon is out of action once again in Assen as he continues to recover from the wrist injury he sustained in testing at Phillip Island before round one. As in Portugal, Jonathan Rea steps in to replace him, the Northern Irish rider feeling he is better prepared now than he was three weeks ago. Rea was 19th this morning and 1.6 seconds off the pace of Bulega, but was the top Honda with Somkiat Chantra down in 21st.
17 Apr 2026
08:50
Dry start
April in Assen is usually a bit of a mixed bag in terms of weather. Rain is certainly a possibility in the next two days, especially early in the afternoon, but it's a dry start this morning, if fairly cloudy.
It's due to stay dry all day today with temperatures set to approach 20C this afternoon. Not the warmest, but not the coldest either.
08:43
Welcome to live coverage of today's WorldSBK action from Assen, where FP1 will be getting underway in around 40 minutes at 10:20 local time.
World Sportbike has just headed out of pit lane for their FP1 session.