Live coverage of Race 1 at the 2026 Italian WorldSBK at Cremona Circuit. Race 1 is due to start at 15:30 local time after Iker Lecuona qualified on pole position this morning.
Nicolo Bulega is on the brink of his second world title and first in WorldSBK this weekend. The odds of him clinching today in Race 1 are against him, as he needs to out-score Iker Lecuona by 15 points. He lost his 100 per cent pole position record this morning to Lecuona who starts from pole position.
Bulega crashed twice yesterday, which he admitted afterwards had made him "angry", while Lecuona topped both practices and confessed to feeling as good as he ever has on the Panigale V4 R during FP2. Bulega, though, felt he had made a step forward in Superpole this morning, even though he missed out on pole.
Ducati once again dominated the field in Superpole, with another top-six lockout. Interestingly, Yari Montella crashed twice on Friday as he enters Race 1 with a 46-point lead over Alex Lowes in the battle for third in the championship. Montella starts fifth today, while Lowes is seventh on the grid.
Remy Gardner brought out the red flags in FP2 when he crashed at turn one. The Australian was declared fit after a trip to the medical centre and qualified as the best Yamaha this morning in 11th.
BMW had a slightly more promising day yesterday with Miguel Oliveira finishing eighth in FP2, although Danilo Petrucci still struggled starkly, finishing down in 19th in FP2. Shaun Muir told the world feed broadcast yesterday that Petrucci could stay with BMW next year in an "overseas" national championship. Oliveira was again in the top-10 in Superpole, finishing up in ninth, while Petrucci will start 19th.
Jake Dixon's P9 in Race 1 was Honda's best result of the season, and the Brit thinks there's much more to come from the CBR1000RR-R.
Full story here.
Iker Lecuona may have dominated today but he is not expecting it to be the same tomorrow, especially once Bulega has clinched the title.
Full story here.
Here are updated permutations for Bulega to win the title tomorrow morning in the Superpole Race. Again, it looks like a bit of a long shot.
It's a dominant second WorldSBK victory for Iker Lecuona in Race 1 at Cremona.
Bulega second, not enough for the title but with Lecuona out front nothing was ever going to be.
Sam Lowes secures third place ahead of Baldassarri, Gerloff, Alex Lowes, Locatelli, Bassani, Dixon, and Bautista who completes the top-10.
6.5s for Lecuona as he goes onto the last lap. This has been emphatic from the Spaniard.
Bulega still second, but only a second ahead of Lowes now, who has gapped Baldassarri by a similar margin.
Into the final four laps now and Bulega is being closed down by Lowes. He's almost 6s behind Lecuona now and only 2s clear of Sam Lowes, who is the fastest rider on track at the moment.
Vierge's gone down at turns five and six. He's up and okay, he wasn't in contention for a top-10 either.
Over 4s now for Lecuona. Bulega still with 3s over Lowes behind so just a case of managing the gap for those two.
Lowes still with Baldassarri for company, so third place very much still to be decided with eight to go.
Bautista up to 10th now, decent fight through from him having been outside the points earlier on. He's 1.5s behind Dixon now.
Gerloff up into the top-five on lap nine, passes Alex Lowes into turn 11. Strong ride for the Kawasaki man, he's the top non-Ducati now.
Oliveira started badly, dropping outside the top-10 from ninth on the grid, but was coming back through and was following Dixon up to the back of Bassani. But he's gone down at turn two on lap 12.
Three seconds between the leaders now. Bulega with another three seconds behind him to Sam Lowes, who still has Baldassarri for close company.
Bridewell has also retired, technical problem for him. That promoted Bautista up into the points, and he's now 14th after the Surra crash.
Surra is out, he's gone down at turn seven. It looked like he had that third spot locked up, but he's thrown it away. Sam Lowes up to fourth now but with Baldassarri still close behind.
Montella has crashed for a second time. Quite a miserable weekend this is turning into. Turn 10 for the Italian.
Dixon up into the top-10. Had spent a few laps trying to figure out a way through Gardner and Manzi but got it done now, just over a second ahead of him to Bassani in ninth.
Twan Smits has crashed on the Motoxracing Yamaha. He looks to be okay.
Lecuona extends the lead to 1.5s on lap five. Could that be job done already?
Still a second between the front two, Lecuona marginally faster that time. Surra dropping off now, he's 1.2s behind Bulega and with Sam Lowes and Baldassarri close behind.
Unreal start from Locatelli, he's up to eighth from 15th on the grid on lap three, although he's got Bassani all over him.
Over a second between the two factory Ducatis. Bulega definitely not looking as sharp as usual, whether that's nerves or shoulder or just a general discomfort with the Cremona layout it's hard to tell.
Lap one down and it's Lecuona from Bulega, Surra, Sam Lowes, and Alex Lowes.
Montella was second but went down at the final corner.
It's lights out for Race 1 at Cremona and it's Lecuona with the holeshot. Bulega back to third behind Montella who started excellently from the second row.