Superbike / Australia, Race 1: Bulega at the top of an all-Italian podium | FP

Blue podium

First victory in the first Superbike race for Nicolò Bulega and first podium on his debut in the for category Andrea Iannone, third with his Team GoEleven Ducati. In the middle, 2nd place Andrea Locatelliwith the three 'blues' giving away a all-Italian podium in Race 1 at Phillip Island, home of the Australian Round, the opening round of the 2024 season.

Race report

Emotions, especially for Bulega, which actually seemed to vanish at the start, thanks to a negative start by the Emilian which caused him to slip out of the podium area, thus offering the provisional leadership of the race on a silver platter to Iannone. At Aruba.it – Ducati there was however great satisfaction for the incredible start of Bautista, even climbing up to 2nd place despite starting from ninth on the grid. However, a moment of glory did not last long for the Spaniard, initially making a mistake in the fight with Razgatlioglu and Lowes, but above all fallen on lap 4, with the world champion thus compromising any chance of victory despite regaining the track. In the meantime, Bulega made a comeback up to the podium area, even regaining the leadership from Iannone, who was in turn busy defending second position on Lowes and Razgatlioglu. All four pilots then performed theirs entry into the pit lane compulsory for replacing the rear tires on the first available lap, the 9th of the race, returning to the track in the same positions. Bulega took advantage of this to immediately try to escape, while Iannone returned to defend the second step of the podium over the two direct pursuers, with Razgatlioglu in the meantime penalized 1 second for not having respected the minimum time for pit operations. At this juncture, however, Locatelli implemented another strategy: that of returning to the pit lane on the last permitted lap, the eleventh. A move that allowed the Yamaha rider to get closer to the leading group, moving up up to 2nd place and taking advantage of a mistake by Iannone in turn 4 to further pull ahead of the former MotoGP rider, who still finished on the podium in his first Superbike race. At the end Lowes was unable to overtake Razgatlioglu on the track, but the Turk's penalty allowed the Yamaha rider to move up one position anyway. Thanks to the fall, Bautista finished in 15th place, still ahead of Rea, 17th in a nightmare Yamaha debut. Great emotions for Bulega, who on the return lap was unable to contain his tears for his first career victory on his debut in the series, three hours after his first pole position.

Superbikes | Phillip Island 2024, Race 1: order of arrival

Upcoming events

The replay of Race 1 will be available at 4pm on Sky Sport MotoGP, or at 2pm on TV8. Superbike which is now taking a one-day break before returning to the track for the Superpole Race at 3:00 Italian on Sunday. First weekend of the season which will then end with Race 2also with a mandatory pit stop, in this case at 6:00. Both tests will be broadcast both by Sky Sport MotoGP and, free-to-air, by TV8.