Nicolo Bulega picked up where he left off: with a victory. The Ducati factory rider, already linked with a 2027 MotoGP move to VR46, took his 24th win of the 2026 WorldSBK season, finishing ahead of Iker Lecuona and Sam Lowes.
Race 1 at Magny-Cours was heavily disrupted by crashes and required a restart after a red flag. Bulega’s initial launch was clean, but Lecuona grabbed the lead from his teammate in the opening corners, while Alex Lowes moved past his brother Sam.
Early chaos and a red flag
At the back of the pack, GYTR GRT Yamaha’s Remy Gardner was the first of several riders to go down, visibly angry with Xavi Vierge after contact between the two. Somkiat Chantra returned to the pits after just one lap, ending his race prematurely.
A few laps later, Miguel Oliveira, whose contract extension with BMW was confirmed this weekend, fell victim to Magny-Cours’ Turn 8. Mattia Rato also crashed at Turn 3 as the Aruba.it Ducati riders began to pull away from their rivals. Stefano Manzi’s race ended early with a crash at Turn 17, and with 12 laps remaining, Tom Bridewell suffered a heavy fall at Turn 15. Fortunately, the British rider escaped with only a lip contusion.
That incident triggered the red flag that stopped Race 1 at Magny-Cours before it was restarted minutes later.
Bulega untouchable in French WorldSBK round
As at the first start, Lecuona got the better of his teammate into the first corners, but Bulega soon reclaimed P1 and began to build a gap, underlining his dominance once again. He then went on to convert that advantage into a commanding victory, his 24th of the 2026 WorldSBK season. Bulega also set the fastest race lap, clocking 1:35.030 to beat Toprak Razgatlioglu’s 2025 benchmark of 1:35.500.
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