Misano, Superpole: Bulega with a record, Ducati gala with five V4Rs in the top six

On Friday, Ducati factory rider Nicolo Bulega dominated at the Misano World Circuit, but in the morning's third practice session, Sam Lowes (Ducati) set the fastest lap so far at the seventh meeting of the 2026 World Superbike Championship season in 1:31.929 min. With Yari Montella (Ducati) and Bulega (Ducati), only the top three rode under 1:32 min and were only separated by 0.057 sec. It was therefore difficult to identify a clear favourite for pole position.

For orientation: Bulega set the pole record last year in 1:31.618 min.

At the start of Superpole at 11.15am, it was already very warm at 25 degrees Celsius and the sun was shining from an only slightly cloudy sky. This is a traditional qualifying session in which all riders have 15 minutes to set the best possible time.

For Misano, Pirelli has the sticky SCQ tyre on offer for qualifying. For the first run, the riders often use the soft SCX racing tyre. With time running out, all participants were keen to ensure a solid lap with minimised risk at the start.

When the lights turned green at the end of the pit lane, most of the riders took to the track immediately - Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli waited the longest. Iker Lecuona (Ducati) set the first decent lap time in 1:31.910 min. Because Garrett Gerloff crashed in turn 14 and yellow flags were waved, only a few riders had a clear run. However, Bulega still managed a very strong lap of 1'31.784.

Sam Lowes caused the next incident on his second flying lap at turn 13. The rest of the field finally headed for the pit lane, also to prepare for the final attempt. With Bulega, Lecuona, Montella and Lorenzo Baldassarri, Ducati had a four-rider lead.

With six minutes to go, the first riders returned to the track with a fresh rear tyre. Stefano Manzi (Yamaha) was the first to do so, making up a position in midfield with a gap of over a second.

Meanwhile, the Aruba.it factory riders stormed onto the circuit named after Marco Simoncelli. Bulega crossed the line in a record time of 1:31.343 minutes. Lecuona lost 0.2 seconds and remained in second place, followed by Montella almost 0.8 seconds behind.

Three minutes before the end, Tommy-Bridewell (Ducati) crashed in the first corner - again, fast laps were cancelled out by waved flags. With 1:20 minutes remaining, Sam Lowes returned to the track after a lightning repair on his V4R. With a fast warm-up lap, the Englishman could still improve from 10th place.

Bulega's time withstood every attack and his Spanish team-mate did not have to worry about second place on the grid either. With a fantastic last lap, however, Bimota rider Alex Lowes broke away from the Ducati quintet at the front in third place.

The second row of the grid consists of the Ducati privateers Montella, Baldassarri and Alberto Surra.

The best Yamaha rider was Locatelli in eighth position. Miguel Oliveira was 11th on the grid for BMW, while Honda rider Somkiat Chantra was 19th.

Without a time and therefore bottom of the grid: Gerloff, who crashed on the only Kawasaki.