A superpole in ‘double digits’
Already in the last round at Donington, Nicolò Bulega had set the new Superbike record by winning nine consecutive Superpoles, surpassing Jonathan Rea in this special ranking. Now, reaching ten, Ducati’s #11 has extended this record, taking home all the qualifying sessions held in this championship and setting the new lap record of the French circuit of Magny-Cours.
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Superpole report
In the first five minutes of the session, Thomas Bridewell stood out in particular (later penalized for not respecting the yellow flag and falling at the end), but immediately after the duel within the Aruba.it team between Bulega and Iker Lecuona began. At first, the Reggio Emilia rider was the first to go under the 1’35” barrier, setting the new record of the French track, only to be surpassed by the Spaniard. The real challenge between the two took place three minutes before the checkered flag, with Lecuona, after improving his time, unable to defend the provisional pole, won by Bulega. The latter actually set the fastest lap in 1:34.318, with the Spaniard also outdone at the end by Sam Lowes, who will start ahead of him. Positive were also the performances of two other Italian riders like Montella and Surra, who will start respectively in fourth and fifth position on the grid for Race 1, scheduled today at 15:30.
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Magny-Cours 2026, Race 1: the starting grid
| POS. | RIDER | MOTORCYCLE | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | Nicolò Bulega | Ducati | 1:34.318 |
| 2 | Sam Lowes | Ducati | +0.168 |
| 3 | Iker Lecuona | Ducati | +0.278 |
| 4 | Yari Montella | Ducati | +0.554 |
| 5 | Alberto Surra | Ducati | +0.823 |
| 6 | Alex Lowes | Bimota | +0.906 |
| 7 | Thomas Bridewell | Ducati | +0.907 |
| 8 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | Ducati | +0.963 |
| 9 | Xavi Vierge | Yamaha | +1.131 |
| 10 | Jake Dixon | Honda | +1.142 |
| 11 | Andrea Locatelli | Yamaha | +1.151 |
| 12 | Garrett Gerloff | Kawasaki | +1.205 |
| 13 | Remy Gardner | Yamaha | +1.236 |
| 14 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | +1.283 |
| 15 | Stefano Manzi | Yamaha | +1.357 |
| 16 | Somkiat Chantra | Honda | +1.478 |
| 17 | Axel Bassani | Bimota | +1.490 |
| 18 | Danilo Petrucci | BMW | +1.635 |
| 19 | Miguel Oliveira | BMW | +1.762 |
| 20 | Mattia Rato | Yamaha | +1.783 |