Why Iker Lecuona thinks Hungarian WorldSBK is his chance to beat Nicolo Bulega

Iker Lecuona thinks the characteristics of Balaton Park circuit play in his favour and against the strengths of his undefeated teammate, Nicolo Bulega.

The Balaton Park circuit is in its second year on the World Superbike calendar and it comes at a particular moment once again. Last year, it arrived in time for WorldSBK to celebrate the 1,000th race in the Superpole Race, and this year it comes as Nicolo Bulega has a shot at the record for the number of consecutive race wins, having tied Toprak Razgatlioglu’s tally of 13 in the Netherlands two weeks ago.

However, it is arguably a track layout that Bulega would rather avoid, or at least leave until a different moment, since its slow corners and stop-start characteristic does not allow Bulega to exploit his strength in long corners as he did so effectively at both Phillip Island and Assen.

This is the hope of his teammate, Iker Lecuona, who comes into this race having been second to Bulega in each of the last six races and still in search of a first WorldSBK win.

“At the end, his [Bulega] strong point was the fast corners,” Leucona told WorldSBK.com ahead of the Portuguese Round.

“I need to say that Assen, in particular, has that last sector that he had very strong in that turn 15, for example. 

“It’s one of the points that I need to work more and try to improve more my confidence on the bike and the way that I approach that corner because it was in a different way than him. 

“In any case we are happy so I think that [Balaton Park] is more easy for me, it’s more my style.”

Lecuona added that, while the layout might not suit Bulega – who was second in the two dry races at Balaton last year – it is one that suits him, he feels.

“Honestly, I remember I’m one of the most critical about talking about that new track last year,” he said in reference to comments he made last year about the safety of the Balaton circuit.

“But on the other side, yes, it’s a track that matches quite well my style; honestly, I feel comfortable on the bike here. 

“Those small corners, or small chicanes, was one of my strongest points because I always work in case [it’s] like that since the pocketbike, so it was quite familiar for me.”

Lecuona did not finish any of the races last year after being one of the worst-affected riders in the turn two incident sparked by Andrea Iannone in Race 1. Lecuona had been lined up by Honda to race the Suzuka 8 Hours and replace then-LCR Honda rider Somkiat Chantra after the MotoGP summer break but missed most of the second half of the season with wrist fractures sustained in the Balaton crash.