Cremona, FP2: Lecuona sets fastest time amid a spate of crashes – Bulega was also involved

Ducati privateer Tarran Mackenzie will miss the 2026 World Superbike Championship round in Cremona, as he has still not fully recovered from his crash at Donington Park. The Scot will be replaced by Loris Baz, who last competed in the World Championship in 2023. New to the line-up is Twan Smits, who will replace Bahattin Sofuoglu – who has returned to the Supersport World Championship – in the Yamaha Motoxracing team.

In the morning’s FP1 session, Ducati works rider Iker Lecuona set the fastest lap time of 1:28.278, ahead of his team-mate and championship leader Nicolò Bulega. With Lorenzo Baldassarri, Sam Lowes (Marc VDS), Yari Montella and Alberto Surra, Ducati enjoyed overwhelming dominance. The best non-Ducati rider was Bimota’s star rider Alex Lowes in 7th place, followed by Garrett Gerloff on the sole Kawasaki.

At the start of the second practice session at 3 pm, the temperature was a pleasant 27 degrees and the sun was shining from an almost cloudless sky. For Montella, however, the session began with a crash at Turn 1 on his first flying lap. Due to yellow flags, numerous riders had a fast lap time disallowed. When Remy Gardner then also crashed spectacularly on his Yamaha in the same area, the practice session was halted. Only half of the 22 riders had set a time by that point.

No sooner had the session resumed than the spate of crashes continued. In Turn 5, Lowes’ Bimota was lying in the gravel. The KB998 was badly battered and, as with Gardner, it had to be assumed that the session was over for the Englishman. And officially, only nine minutes had passed!

However, Lecuona then set the first respectable lap time of 1:28.554. Moments later, Bulega took the lead with a slightly faster time of 1:28.482. Tommy Bridewell (Ducati) and Miguel Oliveira (BMW), in 4th and 5th places respectively, were already lapping faster than they had in the morning.

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After 13 minutes, Twan Smits crashed in Turn 2. Meanwhile, Lecuona set a new fastest time of 1:28.108. Less than three minutes later, Bulega – the next Superbike rider – was down – the Italian had already crashed in FP1. Yellow flags were waved again, and numerous lap times were disallowed once more.

At the halfway point of the 45-minute session, most of the bikes were in the pit lane. Behind Lecuona, Bulega, Surra, Sam Lowes and Bridewell, BMW ace Oliveira remained the best non-Ducati rider. Stefano Manzi kept the Yamaha flag flying in eighth place. Somkiat Chantra rounded off the top 10 on the Honda Fireblade. Only about half of the riders had improved on their times from the morning. Apparently, the higher track temperatures made the circuit more treacherous.

Fortunately, the second half of FP2 passed without any further interruptions. Montella had meanwhile resumed practice and slotted into sixth place, just ahead of Oliveira. Whilst Alex Lowes was still without a lap time, Axel Bassani took eighth place on the second Bimota with ten minutes remaining. Kawasaki rider Garrett Gerloff followed in twelfth, 1.2 seconds behind.

In the final minutes, several riders jumped on their bikes for a fast lap. There were no significant changes to the order at the front of the field. Gerloff made a big leap up to eighth place, making the Texan Ducati’s closest challenger. When two riders – Xavi Vierge (Yamaha) and Jake Dixon (Honda) – did eventually crash in the closing stages, the final chase for the fastest times came to a premature end.

It was striking that all the crashes were caused by the front wheel suddenly and without warning losing grip.