Nicolo Bulega “in another world” at Jerez WorldSBK, rival admits

Nicolo Bulega is “in another world” at the Jerez WorldSBK, Iker Lecuona has admitted.

Lecuona was already writing off his chances of winning at Jerez this weekend after FP2 on Friday.

After Superpole he was similarly pessimistic, even if he felt better on the bike, as Bulega was over 0.4 seconds faster than him in the final qualifying session of the season.

“Yesterday I had a really bad feeling,” Iker Lecuona said, speaking to the WorldSBK world feed after Superpole.

“This morning a bit better with used tyres. 

“I know Nicolo [Bulega] is in another world this weekend, so I put the focus on my pace. 

“Also Sam did a really good job, he is fast so for sure we are in a small group there. 

“Let’s see what we can do during the race. In any case, I think we did a good step, then let’s see after the race what we can find for tomorrow.”

Nicolo Bulega himself was pleased with pole position in what was his last Superpole session before moving to MotoGP.

“I feel very good,” he said. “It’s nice to make my last pole position here in World Superbike, so thanks to my team and I hope to continue to be fast.”

Between the two factory Ducatis on the grid will be Sam Lowes, who became only the second rider, after Bulega, in WorldSBK history to lap faster than 1m37s at Jerez.

“Really happy with the lap time,” Lowes said afterwards. 

“Nicolo [Bulega] – okay, he’s fast everywhere, but also here he’s really strong. I think he did a similar lap time last year. 

“So, I knew I had to try and get on the front row [and I needed] a low-1m37s, 1m36s. So, I was happy with the lap time, to do a 1m36s around here, I’m proud of that. 

“Good all weekend, also this morning on used tyres from yesterday my pace was not so bad, so let’s get into the race, have a battle, and just do a nice race to finish off the season.”