Lecuona (3rd) is baffled: what’s wrong with his Ducati?

Third place is not a bad result, but for Iker Lecuona it is a setback. Since the European opener of the 2026 Superbike World Championship in Portimão, the Spaniard had never finished lower than second. At Donington Park, the Ducati factory rider secured his first victory and even celebrated a hat-trick in Cremona.

Yet, of all places, at his home race in Jerez, Lecuona had to grudgingly admit that his brand-mate Sam Lowes from the Marc VDS customer team was the stronger rider. The Englishman finished second in Superpole and crossed the line in second place in the first race, 1.2 seconds ahead of the 26-year-old.

“Towards the end of the race I was a bit quicker than Sam, but not at the start. That’s why his lead was big enough to secure second place at the finish – he was simply a bit better and I’m happy for him,” Lecuona told SPEEDWEEK.com. “I can’t say the same for myself. I don’t understand what was wrong with the bike. Here we had problems at the start and were stronger at the end, but before that at Estoril it was exactly the opposite. Somehow we have a slightly different problem every time, which frustrates me a bit.”

Iker Lecuona: Barely pushed it, yet tyres still worn out

Lecuona opted for a harder front tyre than Lowes, but tyre wear also took its toll on him. “What baffles me is that, although I was careful and didn’t push too hard, my tyre was already quite worn after four stints,” said the Ducati factory rider, puzzled. “Sam was pushing harder than I was, so I let him and Nicolò pull away. I wanted to wait until tyre wear started to affect him – and then I realised I had a problem myself. In the end, we weren’t actually that far behind Nicolò. But I could feel that, despite all my caution, I couldn’t manage the tyres. And I’m normally a rider who’s gentle on his tyres. We need to find out why that’s the case.”

On Sunday, rain showers and thunderstorms threaten to affect the season finale. Lecuona doesn’t have much experience riding the Ducati V4R in such conditions. “There was already a hint of rain in the air on Saturday,” remarked the Spaniard. “It’ll probably be my second wet race on this bike. I coped quite well with it in Australia. In any case, I’ll be thinking less about the podium and more about finishing the season without any mistakes or crashes.”

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