Nicolo Bulega finally claimed the WorldSBK championship crown after finishing runner-up to team-mate Iker Lecuona in Race 2 at Cremona.
Although Bulega was unable to claim a victory over the weekend, he left his home round with an insurmountable 141-point lead over Lecuona to claim the title despite the Spaniard’s maiden hat trick of victories.
Once again Lecuona got the holeshot from pole position and led down into the first corner from Bulega and Surra, who kept tabs on his compatriot throughout the opening sectors of the first lap.
However, Surra couldn’t maintain the pace for long and eventually dropped back to allow the factory Ducatis to break away, although Bulega was unable to stick with the speed of Lecuona.
While the Ducatis led from the front, the Montella was making moves behind as he overtook Surra at Turn 11 on Lap 3 to move onto the podium in third.
Although Surra tried to keep up with his compatriot, Montella was able to use his experience to eventually draw a second clear and into a comfortable advantage.
The race set into a bit of a lull in the closing stages after Sam Lowes crashed out while battling with brother Alex Lowes, which allowed Lecuona to cruise to the line and claim his first-ever WorldSBK treble.
However, despite Lecuona’s achievement, the focus was on Bulega behind, who finished second to claim the WorldSBK title for the first time in his career.
Meanwhile Montella remained in third place to complete the podium in his home round in Italy.
Surra finished fourth despite his strong start as Alex Lowes rounded out the top five. Meanwhile, Jake Dixon produced a WorldSBK-best ride in sixth.
Lorenzo Baldassarri took seventh at the flag as Garrett Gerloff finished eighth, with the pair overcoming their Superpole skirmish. Axel Bassani was ninth and Andrea Locatelli rounded out the top 10.
Stefano Manzi took 11th with Danilo Petrucci 12th. The rest of the order saw Somkiat Chantra 13th, Loriz Baz 14th and Mattia Rato claiming the final point in 15th.
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