Misano, FP2: Four Ducati ahead of Bimota - signs of life from Yamaha

At the 2026 World Superbike Championship meeting in Misano, Honda works rider Jake Dixon will be replaced by test rider Ryan Vickers. Miguel Oliveira has returned to the ROKiT BMW team, but Danilo Petrucci is absent and will be replaced by test rider Michael van der Mark.

In the morning FP1 - who else - leader Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) set the fastest lap time of 1:32.733 minutes. However, the air seems to be getting thinner for the world championship leader at the top, as his Aruba.it team-mate Iker Lecuona was only a blink of an eye slower, just 0.059 seconds behind. Behind six V4Rs, Xavi Vierge on the Yamaha R1 was surprisingly the best non-Ducati rider.

At the start of the second practice session at 3pm, it was a little warmer than in the morning at 25 degrees, but this had no effect on the lap times. After just eight minutes, Bulega had set a faster lap of 1:32.627 minutes and Lecuona was also faster than in FP1 with a time of 1:32.799 minutes. The top eight - six Ducati and two Bimota - were within a second of each other.

For comparison: Bulega has held the pole record since 2025 with 1:31.618 min, while Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) set the fastest race lap in 2024 in a sprint in 1:32.687 min.

Under the watchful eye of MotoGP team manager Davide Tardozzi, Bulega steadily improved. After seven laps, the 26-year-old recorded a time of 1:32.235 min, putting him 0.5 seconds ahead of Lecuona and 0.8 seconds ahead of Yari Montella (Ducati). Bimota aces Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes followed in fourth and fifth.

After 15 minutes, the top five was unchanged and the remaining Ducati privates followed in 7th to 11th place. In twelfth place, Yamaha rider Remy Gardner was 1.6 seconds behind, followed by BMW figurehead Miguel Oliveira (13th). Honda rider Somkiat Chantra was 16th and Garrett Gerloff followed in 17th position on the only Kawasaki.

At the halfway point of the 45-minute session, only eight of the 22 riders had not yet improved on their morning lap time. There were no significant changes in the top 10.

Iker Lecuona: Harmless crash over the front wheel

Two minutes before the end, Lecuona crashed harmlessly over his front wheel. Shortly before, the Spaniard had set a personal fastest lap of 1:32.523 minutes and reduced his gap to Bulega to 0.288 seconds. The only rider in the top 10 who was faster in the morning was Sam Lowes in sixth position.

In the final minutes, several riders tackled a fast lap. Lecuona reduced the gap to just 0.166 sec on Bulega. Montella stormed forward to third place and finally Sam Lowes (4th) managed a faster lap than in FP1.

The best non-Ducati rider was Axel Bassani in fifth on the Bimota KB998, with team-mate Alex Lowes in seventh. Xavi Vierge was the best Yamaha rider to finish the first day of practice in eighth place.

Given the circumstances, 16th place, 1.4 seconds behind Oliveira, is perfectly acceptable. Petrucci's replacement Michael van der Mark was 0.2 seconds slower than the Portuguese rider.

Disappointment at Kawasaki: On the day the contract was extended, Garrett Gerloff was unable to finish higher than 17th.

Honda faces another difficult Superbike weekend with Chantra and Vickers in 19th and 21st place.