2026 Hungarian WorldSBK, Superpole Race Results: Bulega wins after red flag

Results from the Superpole Race at the 2026 Hungarian WorldSBK from Balaton Park, race 11 of the 2026 season.

Nicolo Bulega won the Superpole Race at Balaton Park, beating Iker Lecuona by 0.894 seconds in a shortened eight-lap race.

The first start was almost disaster for Bulega, the Italian being forced wide at turn one by a wayward Yari Montella before running wide himself at turn five on the opening lap.

Ahead of him, Miguel Oliveira and Andrea Locatelli also ran in deep. Locatelli tried to cut back underneath Oliveira, but made contact with Sam Lowes on his inside as he did so. Locatelli fell and collected Oliveira, who was then treated on the track which caused a red flag.

Oliveira was transported to hospital after the incident having been diagnosed with concussion and a left shoulder injury. Locatelli got a double long lap penalty for the restarted race and finished 13th.

The first start had presented a perfect opportunity for Iker Lecuona, who was second behind Lorenzo Baldassarri when on the first lap when the red flag came out, while Nicolo Bulega was down in the back end of the top-10.

Bulega made a better first lap on the restart, though, and Lecuona took until turn four to get up to second. The gap was soon out to over a second and although Lecuona got it back down to under a second by the finish he was never close enough to attack his teammate. He did, though, get himself a front row start for Race 2.

Baldassarri made a tough pass on Yari Montella at turn two on the first lap to take control of third place. It pushed Montella back down the order and he was unable to get back into the podium fight, but for Baldassarri it was a pass that set him up to get back on the podium for the first time since round one, and he ended almost three seconds clear of Alvaro Bautista in fourth at the finish.

Behind Bautista, Montella and Alberto Surra completed an all-Ducati top-six, then Alex Lowes, Garrett Gerloff, and Tarran Mackenzie took the final positions in the top-nine. Xavi Vierge completed the top-10.

Full World Superbike results from the Superpole Race at Balaton Park are below.