10:30
Lecuona finally gets a representative lap on the board but only P5.
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 Hungarian WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
LIVE
2026 Hungarian WorldSBK Superpole LIVE: Bulega takes Balaton pole
Live updates from the Superpole session at the 2026 Hungarian WorldSBK at Balaton Park.
Live coverage of the Superpole sessions at the 2026 Hungarian WorldSBK from Balaton Park, which is due to start at 11:15 local time. Race 1 will be coming up later at 15:30.
Key Moments
- Bulega takes pole
- All-Ducati front row with Baldassarri and Montella
- Lecuona only fifth after a messy session
- Bulega fastest in FP3
Iker Lecuona topped both practices on Friday, but it's Nicolo Bulega with the fastest time of the weekend after FP3 this morning in which he was a tenth faster than his team-mate.
Bulega said yesterday that he needed to find time in the chicanes, although his pace was comparable with Lecuona, who downplayed his status as favourite.
The Ducatis have been especially dominant this weekend, locking out the top-seven in FP2 yesterday with five satellite bikes behind the factory machines. Sam Lowes was the fastest of those yesterday but this morning Lorenzo Baldassarri and Yari Montella were ahead of him.
Miguel Oliveira was also able to get into the top-six in FP3 this morning, the Portuguese setting the fastest time for the non-Ducati riders. He has an updated fairing this weekend which he says will be better suited to circuits with longer corners. Danilo Petrucci isn't running the update.
There is still no Jake Dixon this weekend as he continues to recover from injury, the British rider being replaced this weekend by Yuki Kunii who is making his World Superbike debut and has finished last in every session.
02 May 2026
10:38
Superpole Result
2026 hungarian worldsbk - superpole results
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 Hungarian WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
10:32
Bulega on pole in Balaton
Nicolo Bulega has taken pole position in Balaton Park as the chequered flag comes out to bring an end to Superpole.
Baldassarri and Montella complete the front row.
Oliveira, Lecuona, Locatelli on row two.
Sam Lowes, Surra, and Bautista on the third row.
Alex Lowes completes the top-10, then it's Mackenzie and Gerloff on the fourth row with him.
Crash for Manzi by the looks of it at the end of the session as well.
10:30
Oliveira bumped off the front row by Montella who goes third. Bautista up to sixth with his latest lap.
Second crash of the weekend for Petrucci, this time at turn one. Yellows will kill some laps, but Petrucci looks okay.
10:28
Lecuona gets through all the traffic but he went long in a couple of the hard braking zones on that lap, turn one and turn five, then at the last chicane as well. He bails on it at the end, but still goes up to 18th. Onto his second attempt now.
10:27
Riders heading out for their second runs now and Lecuona is about to catch all of them on his first flyer with his second tyre. Remember, he bailed on his first run early.
10:24
Top 10
First runs are done with in Balaton. Top-10 as it stands:
- Bulega
- Baldassarri
- Oliveira
- S. Lowes
- Montella
- Surra
- Locatelli
- A. Lowes
- Mackenzie
- Gerloff
Very solid opening for Oliveira on the BMW to be among the Ducatis.
10:22
Lecuona has pitted on his first flying lap and he's bottom of th time sheets after his first run.
Bulega meanwhile, improves further to a 1m38.094s - new lap record for the Italian.
10:20
Oliveira seemed to have a fairly solid early benchmark at a 1m38.867s, but Bulega has destroyed that immediately with a 1m38.101s - he's on provisional pole by 0.6s over Baldassarri who was in his tow.
10:15
Superpole start
Pit lane is open in Hungary and we are underway for 15 minutes of Superpole.
10:09
Conditions
More or less perfect conditions in Balaton ahead of Superpole with 20C air temperature and 32C track temperature, so about 6C cooler on the ground than what we had in FP2 yesterday.
10:02
BMW fairing
If you missed practice yesterday, you may have missed BMW's new fairing, which features two strakes on either side at the back of the belly pan section.
Shaun Muir was asked about it during FP2 by the world feed broadcast, but was evasive. Miguel Oliveira spoke after the session in slightly more detail that implied what BMW is trying to achieve with the update.
Full story here.
Miguel Oliveira, 2026 Hungarian WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
09:53
Petrucci
Danilo Petrucci crashed in FP2 yesterday and sustained a left wrist contusion. He was required to pass an assessment this morning and did so to ride in FP3.
He also had to be assessed after FP3, and he has been passed fit from that as well, so the Italian is all set to head out for Superpole in around 20 minutes' time.
09:49
FP3 results
Nicolo Bulega was fastest this morning in FP3, setting the fastest time of the weekend so far to beat his team-mate Iker Lecuona by 0.1 seconds, reversing the order of yesterday's practices.
Full results here.
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 Hungarian WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
09:47
Welcome to live coverage of today's WorldSBK action from Balaton Park, where Superpole will be getting underway in just under 30 minutes at 11:15 local time.