In finishing a solid second in Race 1, the Superpole Race, and Race 2, Iker Lecuona wrapped up the Portuguese Grand Prix weekend feeling happy and relieved by the consistency of his performance—and especially by the fact that the gap to the dominant Bulega is gradually closing. Increasingly comfortable on the Panigale V4R, the Spaniard said he has no overly ambitious goals for the near future, preferring a gradual approach without pushing too hard.
“As I’ve often said, Australia was sort of an extra test. Even though I was happy to be sixth overall, now I’m second and I’ve never been in the top positions before. It was a magnificent weekend, ” the Aruba Ducati rider said with a smile.
He was comforted by the fact that the gap to his pit neighbor wasn’t that big.“Nicolò has a bit more than me, but not too much since he made a few mistakes too. I didn’t get off to a good start today either because when you try to do everything perfectly, it doesn’t work out, whereas yesterday I was more relaxed and got off to a better start, so I’ll have to analyze and work harder on that phase. On the positive side, I lost only a second or a second and a half in the first three or four laps; otherwise, during the race I closed the gap, and when the tyre started to wear down, I pushed hard, but my pace and the Italian’s were similar, and that makes me happy,” he noted, highlighting the positives from this Sunday.
“I’ve made progress since Saturday, and I also achieved my goal of finishing second. With ten laps to go, when I was in that position, I tried to make up some ground, but I would have had to take too many risks. In particular, at one point I lost a bit of grip on the front because the right side of the tyre was wearing down, so, being four seconds behind, I decided to settle for second place since it was still a perfect result for me and the team,” he revealed.
Returning to the direct comparison with the current championship leader, the Spaniard reflected: “The gap between me and Nicolò isn’t huge, but there are details to improve. It costs me two-tenths per lap, which means I’d have to destroy the tyres to catch him. I just need to find a bit more confidence and learn that riding style.”
Looking ahead to the next round scheduled for mid-April in the Netherlands, the former Honda rider didn’t want to get ahead of himself. “I’m not expecting anything from Assen. I want to emphasize that right now it’s important to keep my feet on the ground, and I’m doing that. This weekend was incredible, but the Netherlands will be a totally different story, and there I might struggle more or less. I want to take it step by step. Once I’m there, I’ll try to analyze last year’s data to understand more and focus on every single session. Given the lack of testing, I’ve made progress from Phillip Island to here and stayed out of trouble, crashing only last Friday on new tyres, but without losing my confidence. So, the goal is to keep it up.”
For the 26-year-old, riding isn’t just about competition—it’s also about having fun. “Sometimes I like to take risks because it’s fun, a bit like on Friday when I did a stoppie at Turn 1. A lot of people brought up Toprak, but he’s not here, and I did it on a Ducati when nobody else does. It was just for fun. As for the rest, I don’t care what people say. What matters is what the team thinks and what I say. As my psychologist David told me, I don’t have to prove anything, and now I’m able to do certain things to be in the position I’m in because I have the necessary confidence. There are a lot of armchair critics out there. It’s easy to talk from home,” he said, taking a swipe at his detractors while denying that expectations of him are too high.
“Personally, I’m happy with second place. The pressure isn’t on me, but on Bulega. Today I had a consistent pace, and the gap was small if you consider that I lost only a second and a half at the start and that without that I would have been right with him. So I’m satisfied with the team and my work, as I achieved my goal. If the win came, it came, but I wasn’t craving success at all costs. After all, it’s only my second race weekend in the dry with this bike.”
Finally, comparing the approach of the Japanese team with that of Borgo Panigale, he explained: “The method is very different, but that’s because the Asian and European mentalities are completely different.”