Nicolo Bulega continued his formidable streak by picking up a ninth Superpole of the season at the French WorldSBK round.
Bulega was challenged by team-mate Iker Lecuona and MarcVDS’ Sam Lowes throughout the 15 minute session, but ultimately prevailed to continue his unbeaten qualifying record in 2026.
On his first flying lap around the circuit, Bulega set a 1:34.900s to break the existing lap record, which lasted momentarily after Lecuona set a blistering 1:34.676s.
The two Ducati riders were by far and away the fastest two riders on the circuit, with Lecuona beating his own record before Bulega looked to respond.
The championship leader then set an unbeatable 1:34.318s to claim the pole position for Race 1 and Superpole Race at Magny-Cours.
Sam Lowes put in a phenomenal final attempt to move into second place, with his 1:34.486s just under two seconds off Bulega’s best time.
Lecuona was demoted late by the impressive pace of Lowes, but retained his position on the front row in third.
Yari Montella took the chequered flag in fourth, while Alberto Surra completed the all-Ducati top five.
Alex Lowes was the best non-Ducati machine in sixth place, as Tommy Bridewell suffered a late crash to take seventh on the track despite his demotion to the back of the grid for a penalty.
Lorenzo Baldassarri also crashed in the final minute of the session but finished eighth ahead of Xavi Vierge in ninth and a season’s best performance for Honda’s Jake Dixon rounded out the top 10.
Andrea Locatelli finished 11th and just 0.020s behind Yamaha team-mate Vierge, while Garrett Gerloff was 12th and Remy Gardner 13th.
Alvaro Bautista completed qualifying down in 14th with Stefano Manzi in 15th and Somkiat Chantra taking 16th.
Axel Bassani had an uncharacteristically difficult qualifying session in 17th, while the BMWs also struggled as Danilo Petrucci took 18th and Miguel Oliveira 19th.
Rookie Mattia Rato completed the standings in 20th after his team-mate Bahattin Sofuoglu was ruled out of the weekend due to a crash in Friday’s opening practice session.
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