Double victories for Nicole Bulega, as the Italian rider narrows the championship points gap to Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Super Sunday for Bulega!Nicolo Bulega made it a Sunday to remember claiming all 37 of the points available to him after impeccably leading from lights to flag to take victory by 2.3 seconds. Crucially for the Italian this sees him close to 55 points behind absent Championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu, who faces a race against time to be fit for Round 9 of the season in two weeks time at the Cremona Circuit in Italy.

Behind Bulega, compatriot Danilo Perrucci ended his weekend with a trio of podiums for the first time in his career, equalling his best result of second place which he has now achieved four times and will be looking to go one better before the end of the season. After securing six WSBK podiums for Yamaha between 2020 and 2022, American Garret Gerloff claimed his first podium aboard a BMW with a strong third place.

While running in Second place Alex Lowes dropped to the back of the field after running wide at turn eight on the opening lap, undeterred the Kawasaki rider remarkably fought through the field to take fourth place. Michael van der mark completed the top five to cap off a strong weekend for the Flying Dutchman. GRT Yamaha rider Remy Gardner completed the top 6 with Scott Redding crossing the line in seventh. After the race had finished, Redding received a post-race penalty to drop one position due to exceeding track limits on the final lap.

This penalty demoted Redding to eighth and promoted Xavi Vierge to seventh. Andrea Locatelli and Iker Lecuona completed the top ten. The first half of the race was Kawasaki’s Axel Bassani’s best showing of 2024 and was in contention for a podium running as high as third on lap five. The Italian’s race was ruined when he received a long-lap penalty for corner cutting turn 6 and dropped from fifth to eleventh.

A rare anonymous weekend for Andrea Iannone saw the Italian come home in 12th place, while super-sub Alessandro Delbianco claimed a second points scoring ride of the weekend in 13th standing in for the injured Dominique Aegerter. Tito Rabat equalled his best result of the season with 14th place, a result he has now achieved four times in 2024. Michael Rinaldi completed the point scorers in 15th, finishing five seconds in-front of Phillip Oettl.

British duo Brad Ray and Tarran Mackenzie finished 17th and 18th, while fellow Brit Sam Lowes retired with a technical problem. Portugal’s Ivo Lopes, continuing to replace the injured Adam Norrodin at MIE Honda was last of the finishers in 19th place. Razgatlioglu, Norrodin, Alvaro Bautista and Jonathan Rea will all be hoping to return when WSBK returns 20th-22nd as the series visits the Cremona Circuit in Northern Italy for the first time.

Featured Image: Ducati Corse.