Nicolo Bulega recovered from losing three positions on the opening lap to clinch victory in the WorldSBK Superpole race at Phillip Island.
Bulega initially struggled with the cooler conditions and dropped to fourth on the first lap, but eventually recovered to take his second win of the weekend by 2.752s.
As the Polesitter Bulega made a slow start off the line, Yari Montella immediately took the lead into Turn 1, before both Alex and Sam Lowes overtook the Ducati rider at Turn 2.
After a difficult opening lap, Bulega looked to recover but scuppered his first opportunity at overtaking MarcVDS’ Sam Lowes at Turn 1.
One lap later, however, Bulega finally struck, using the slipstream to pass Lowes whilst also opening the door for Bimota’s Axel Bassani to muscle into fourth.
In a move reminiscent of his previous lap, Bulega once again used the straight-line speed of his Ducati to pass Alex Lowes for second,
A late lunge from the Italian on Montella at Turn 10 saw the Italian steal the lead of the race with seven laps remaining, and he looked almost untouchable from that point onwards.
However, the rain flags started to wave around the circuit, signifying the drop in conditions around the Phillip Island circuit.
Bassani quickly became the fastest rider on the track and used that pace to pass team-mate Alex Lowes at Turn 1, before overtaking Montella at the Miller Hairpin for second place.
The Lowes brothers also found themselves doing battle at the hairpin, with Sam getting the better of Alex with six laps remaining.
One lap later, Alex Lowes returned the favour and pushed back in front of his twin brother, with both hunting down Montella for the final podium spot.
The Bimota rider then used his comfort in the difficult conditions to take third from Montella before the Italian ran wide at Turn 2.
Further down the order, the BMW pair of Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira tussled for the final points position with the Portuguese rider eventually getting into ninth.
However, a mistake on the final lap saw Oliveira drop all the way down the order and allowed Ducati’s Iker Lecuona to capitalise and take ninth place.
While the others battled behind him, Bulega continued to build his lead and eventually cruised across the line to seal his second victory of the weekend.
Bimota confirmed its first double podium finish in WorldSBK, as Bassani took second and Alex Lowes finished third.
Montella remained as the top independent rider in fourth for Barni Spark, while Sam Lowes took fifth.
Garrett Gerloff took the chequered flag in sixth ahead of Alvaro Bautista, who had a quiet Superpole race in seventh.
Lorenzo Baldassari was under pressure in the late stages of the race but ended up comfortably taking eighth over the line.
Lecuona’s late charge saw him take the final point in ninth ahead of Petrucci, who completed the top 10.
Tarran Mackenzie was part of the battle for the points and ended the race in 11th ahead of rookie Alberto Surra in 12th
Stefano Manzi was top Yamaha in his first Superpole race in 13th, while Andrea Locatelli’s early struggles aboard the factory bike continued in 14th.
Ryan Vickers was 15th at the flag ahead of Australian Remy Gardner in 16th and fellow Honda replacement rider Tetsuta Nagashima in 17th.
Oliveira crossed the line after his problem in 18th, while the MotoxRacing pair of Bahattin Sofuoglu and Mattia Rato closed out the standings in 19th and 20th.
Xavi Vierge was unable to start the Superpole race for Yamaha and was not classified.
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