#HungarianWorldSBK Friday Debriefs

Posted May 2, 2026

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Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Iker Lecuona. Credit: WorldSBK

Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Iker Lecuona was fastest on the Friday after taking the fastest time at the end of both sessions from teammate Nicolò Bulega. Both teammates were the only riders in the 1.38s. In the afternoon session, Lecuona was the fastest rider in three of the four sectors as he looks toward his first victory of the season. Lecuona spoke about his performance despite not being at 100%: “I’m happy with the performance today. I struggled a bit physically because I was quite sick yesterday, so I had to rest this morning. My energy isn’t the same as normal, but the feeling with the bike was really good. We made some small changes to the bike, and they worked well. I set my best lap at the end of the session on the same tyre, so that shows our consistency. Overall, I’m very happy. I’m not the favourite, but in racing, you never know what can happen. I’m closer to Nicolo here, which is a good step compared to the first rounds. I feel ready to fight.”

Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Nicolò Bulega. Credit: WorldSBK

Bulega finished second by one tenth of a second. Bulega said about his improvements from last year to this one: “It wasn’t so bad today, and compared to last year, when I struggled a lot on Friday, I feel much better today. I needed to adapt a little bit of my riding style to this track. I’m quite happy overall because we made a step with the bike, even if I’m not at 100 percent yet. There are still some areas, especially in the chicanes, where we can improve, but the base is good. It was a positive first day, and if we can make another step tomorrow, I think we can fight for the win.”

ELF Marc VDS Racing Team’s Sam Lowes. Credits: WorldSBK

ELF Marc VDS Racing Team’s Sam Lowes was third overall after narrowly missing the 1.38-minute mark that the other two achieved. Lowes said, “It was a good day for us. It took a bit of time to get going this morning, but I started to feel better as the sessions went on. I tried a longer run and made a few mistakes, especially in the chicane, but the pace wasn’t bad. I need to find a few tenths in some areas, particularly in sector two, and to improve my consistency. We seem to be missing a bit compared to Iker and Nicolò, so we’ll analyse everything tonight and try to make a step. I’m confident we can be closer tomorrow.”

WorldSBK’s Superpole is at 11:15 LT, and Race 1 is at 15:30 here in Hungary.