Cremona WorldSBK LIVE: Reaction from Friday practice after Bulega crashes twice

Live updates from Friday practice at the 2026 Cremona WorldSBK, the third-last round of 2026 and the second title chance for Nicolo Bulega, who crashed in FP1. FP2 is due to start at 15:00 local time.

Key Moment

• Lecuona tops FP2 as Bulega crashes again
• Bulega suffers second crash of the day in FP2
• Alex Lowes crashes after restart
• Huge Gardner crash brings out red flags
• Montella crashes at beginning of FP2
• Lecuona tops FP1, Ducati locks out top-six
• Late crash for Bulega at turn 10
• Montella crashes at the final corner

Nicolo Bulega arrives at Cremona with the championship lead in WorldSBK after securing yet another triple at Magny-Cours. The title permutations are relatively simple for Bulega this weekend: if he drops less than 23 points across the three races to Iker Lecuona, he'll be champion by the end of Sunday. It will be Bulega's second title chance after France, but there he needed to out-score Lecuona by over 30 points, meaning the ball is much more in the Italian's court this time around.

As for Lecuona, the Spaniard talked up his chances of being competitive this weekend, although he admitted the title is gone. What could help Lecuona's hopes of taking race wins this weekend is Bulega's general discomfort at Cremona. Yesterday, the Italian said he has to think too much when riding at Cremona, suggesting it's not a layout that naturally suits him, although he did win here last year in all three races. The two finished 1-2 in FP1 with Lecuona a tenth faster than Bulega, who crashed late on at turn 10.

Third in the championship coming into this weekend is Yari Montella, and the Magny-Cours round was very positive for him from a points perspective. He's now 46 points clear of Alex Lowes in fourth place, meaning he has a sizeable margin to manage in the final nine races of the season. His Barni Ducati team is based close to the Cremona track, so it's very much a home race for the team that won all three races here in 2024, and Montella started reasonably well in FP1, recovering from an early technical problem to finish fifth-fastest.

Even if it's a home race for the team, it is set to be a difficult one for Alvaro Bautista, who has struggled in general this year. He spoke yesterday of his continued hopes of being able to perform well enough in the final races of this year to have decent options available for 2027, but there are no firm options yet for the 41-year-old.

Those 2024 Barni wins were won by Danilo Petrucci, who struggled massively at Magny-Cours, as did his BMW team-mate Miguel Oliveira. Oliveira said yesterday that there was no definitive cause determined by BMW for its French struggles, but he was hopeful that their fortunes would be better in Italy. Oliveira was the best BMW in FP1 but only 13th, while Petrucci was 22nd.

There is again no Tarran Mackenzie this weekend in Italy  as he continues to recover from the injuries he sustained at Donington before the summer break. He will be replaced by Loris Baz at the MGM Ducati team, who crashed this morning and finished 21st, behind Twan Smits who has replaced Bahattin Sofuoglu at Motoxracing Yamaha.