11:28
Bulega to pole
Second flying lap of his second run and Bulega takes provisional pole by 0.052s from Lecuona.
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 UK WorldSBK. Credit: Tony Goldsmith.
UK WorldSBK LIVE: Race 1 reaction as Lecuona ends Bulega's win streak at Donington
Live coverage of the Superpole session at the 2026 UK WorldSBK at Donington Park.
Live updates from Race 1 at the 2026 UK WorldSBK at Donington. Race 1 is due to start 15:30 local time.
Key Moments
- Lecuona takes first WorldSBK win, beating Bulega and Montella
- Lecuona leads into the closing laps as Ducati take first six positions
- Lecuona makes the holeshot as Bulega drops to second at the start
- Surra withdraws from weekend with shoulder injury
Nicolo Bulega came into Saturday having topped both free practices on Friday at Donington and as the clear favourite having been over 0.2 seconds ahead of Yari Montella in FP2 yesterday. The Italian did that without a perfect feeling on the bike yesterday and while feeling slightly worn out from a busy recent schedule. He starts from pole position this afternoon after narrowly beating Iker Lecuona this morning.
Montella and Lecuona are clearly Bulega's closest challengers having been second and third yesterday. They've also completed the podium behind Bulega in the last four races, but Lecuona in particular was fairly downbeat about his chances when he spoke to the media after FP2 yesterday, saying he was unable to ride a smoothly as he wants to.
Alex Lowes was fourth-fastest yesterday and the leading non-Ducati rider. The Bimota man was outspoken on WorldSBK's current situation with the domination of Ducati and where that could head in terms of the discontent among the other manufacturers. Lowes was surpassed as the leading non-Ducati rider in Superpole by Xavi Vierge who qualuified fifth for Yamaha.
Bimota was one of three manufacturers to feature in the top-10 yesterday other than Ducati. Another was Kawasaki, and another was Honda, which had Jonathan Rea 10th-fastest in FP2, a best result of the season in any session for HRC. Rea backed that up in Superpole when he was again 10th.
BMW, on the other hand, was not in the top-10, despite having a full-strength line-up for the first time since Balaton Park this weekend. Danilo Petrucci explained afterwards that there is not a specific area where he and Miguel Oliveira are losing time to their rivals, rather a small amount of time is being lost everywhere which, by the end of the lap, accumulates to over a second.
There will be no Tarran Mackenzie or Alberto Surra in Race 1 after both sustained injuries this weekend, Surra's coming after FP3 while Mackenzie crashed in FP2.
11 Jul 2026
11:40
11:31
Bulega takes Donington pole
It's pole position for Nicolo Bulega at the UK WorldSBK, he beats Lecuona by 0.052s. Montella completes another all-Ducati front row.
Sam Lowes makes it an all-Ducati top-four ahead of Vierge, the leading non-Ducati.
Baldassarri completes the top-six ahead of Alex Lowes, Bassani, and Bridewell who will start from the third row.
Rea completes the top-10 and will start alongside Gerloff and Oliveira on the fourth row.
11:27
Crash for Oliveira at the final corner but he's remounted.
11:26
First lap of the second run for Bulega puts him back up to second, but still a tenth of Lecuona's benchmark.
11:23
Bulega pushed back to second now by Montella, but Lecuona still has 0.4s of advantage. Really was some lap from the Spaniard, but there's still the second runs to come.
11:20
Bulega gets his second lap in but he's a way off Lecuona's time - 0.469s between the factory Ducatis at present.
11:19
Yellow flags for Gardner's crash have cost Bulega his first lap, as Lecuona goes fastest on a fairly ballistic 1m24.462s, that's 0.3 better than what Sam Lowes managed in FP3 this morning.
11:18
Crash for Remy Gardner at turn 10 on his first flying lap. That'll probably be back-of-the-grid for the Australian, he's not able to ride it back.
11:15
Superpole start
With Surra and Tarran Mackenzie both absent, pit lane is open at Donington and we are underway for Superpole.
11:12
Surra ruled out
Alberto Surra has been ruled out of the UK WorldSBK after encountering a shoulder issue after FP3.
Full story here.
Alberto Surra, 2026 UK WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
11:05
Conditions
10 minutes to go until Superpole starts at Donington and a bit of a cooler morning than yesterday.
Currently, we're looking at 23C air temperature and 35C track temperature.
10:55
Petrucci: "We are slow everywhere"
Danilo Petrucci tested with BMW at Donington recently, but despite that the Italian and team-mate Miguel Oliveira found themselves "slow everywhere" on Friday, both languishing outside the top-15 in FP2.
Full story here.
Danilo Petrucci, 2026 UK WorldSBK, pit box. Credit: Tony Goldsmith.
10:48
Bulega: "The feeling is not like Iike I want"
Nicolo Bulega may have topped both practices yesterday, but the Italian was unsatisfied with his feeling on the bike on the first day at Donington.
The Italian also noted that his recent schedule has taken its toll on him, having been testing Ducati's 850cc MotoGP bike as well as taking part in World Ducati Week and appearing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Full story here.
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 UK WorldSBK. Credit: Tony Goldsmith.
10:38
10:34
Welcome to live coverage of today's WorldSBK action from Donington, where Superpole is due to start in around 40 minutes at 11:15 local time.