#EmiliaRomagnaWorldSBK Friday Debriefs

The second half of the 2026 WorldSBK season got underway at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, with Nicolò Bulega once again setting the benchmark as the championship leader topped Friday’s combined times for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati.

Bulega completed 41 laps across the two practice sessions and ended the day fastest with a time of 1’32.235s. After struggling with the bike setup during the morning session, the Italian returned to a more familiar base setting in the afternoon and immediately found his rhythm. His pace over longer runs also caught the eye, with a 12-lap stint demonstrating impressive consistency ahead of the weekend’s races.

“This morning wasn’t very good because the feeling with the bike wasn’t what I wanted. We tried something with the setup, but it wasn’t the right direction for the setting. This afternoon we went back to our base setting, and it improved a lot. I enjoyed it much more with our standard setting, and the feeling was what I needed. I was able to have a good pace. There is a bit more pressure this weekend because we are racing at home, but it’s the pressure that gives you extra motivation. It’s good pressure to be here.”

As has so often been the case this season, teammate Iker Lecuona emerged as Bulega’s closest challenger. The Spaniard suffered a low-speed crash at Turn 8 during the afternoon session but quickly returned to the track and immediately improved his lap time, ending the day second fastest overall.

“It was a bit tricky this morning, and the bike was difficult to ride. Coming here after being on the MotoGP bike last weekend meant that I maybe arrived with a different feeling to usual. We needed to change the bike a little compared to the test here, but I felt comfortable. I was fast and very consistent. We had an issue with one tyre that didn’t perform as expected, and we need to understand what happened because the difference to Nicolo was too big. It will be tricky to fight with Nicolo because I know that he is the best here and he’s racing at home, but overall we’re happy because we’re close.”

Completing the top three, Yari Montella enjoyed a strong start to his home round for the Barni Spark Racing Team. Having tested at Misano three weeks earlier, Montella was immediately comfortable on the Ducati Panigale V4R and focused much of Friday’s running on understanding tyre behaviour over race distance.

“We tested here three weeks ago, and I felt good on the bike. We started this morning with the setup we used during the test, and it worked well. This afternoon we did a long run to understand how the tyres work because every year it’s difficult to manage the tyre here. This track puts a lot of stress on both the front and rear tyres, and in these conditions it’s always hard to understand it all. It was important to see how the bike works for my riding style and whether the setup we used was the right one. I don’t know if tomorrow will be different, but we’ll try to do our best.”

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

Combined Free Practice Times

1. N. Bulega
2. I. Lecuona
3. Y. Montella
4. S. Lowes
5. A. Bassani
6. A. Surra
7. A. Lowes
8. L. Baldassarri
9. T. Mackenzie
10. X. Vierge
11. T. Bridewell
12. Á. Bautista
13. R. Gardner
14. S. Manzi
15. A. Locatelli
16. G. Gerloff
17. M. Oliveira
18. M. van der Mark
19. S. Chantra
20. B. Sofuoğlu
21. R. Vickers
22. M. Rato