It seems that Nicolò Bulega has found himself facing a rival from within his own team. We’re talking about Iker Lecuona, who has proven to be a real workhorse on his Ducati so far this season. After getting a feel for the Panigale V4 in Australia, the Spaniard made it clear between Portimão and Assen that he is Nicolò’s direct rival in the title race, consistently finishing right behind him.
This is a sign not to be underestimated now that Superbike arrives at Balaton, where the fourth round of the season will take place this weekend. For Bulega, the track is the worst one on the calendar, and a year ago, during the Superpole Race, he gifted Toprak 12 points by choosing wet tyres, a decision that proved to be wrong.
For his part, however, Lecuona saw his weekend end prematurely due to the crash caused in Race 1 by Andrea Iannone, which sent him to the operating room, forcing him to deal with a long layoff due to a fracture of the ulna and radius.
The past is behind them, however, because a lot has changed in these past ten months. Toprak has, in fact, passed the torch to Bulega, who now finds himself dominating this World Superbike Championship, while Iker has managed to bounce back and now dreams of that long-awaited victory. After all, Balaton seems to be the perfect opportunity to play a nasty trick on Nicolò, on a track whose characteristics appear to favor the Spaniard’s riding style over that of the Italian.
We’ll know the truth in a few hours, and we’re convinced that, in Hungary, there will be many others ready to banish the ghosts of recent weeks. This is the case for BMW, with Petrucci and Oliveira forced to play catch-up at Assen, as well as Axel Bassani, who has gone off the radar since his podium at Phillip Island.
And what about Yamaha and Honda, the big disappointments of this early season, with Locatelli a shadow of his former self compared to what we saw a year ago...
There’s plenty at stake heading into a weekend where Ducati will obviously start as the clear favorites. In that regard, it will be interesting to see what steps Borgo Panigale has taken in recent days to resolve the critical issues that emerged with the swingarms at Assen.
This is no small matter, as it has caused difficulties for several satellite teams, most notably Marc VDS and Barni.