Nicolo Bulega picked up the place he left off: with a victory. The Ducati manufacturing unit rider, already linked with a 2027 MotoGP transfer to VR46, took his twenty fourth win of the 2026 WorldSBK season, ending forward of Iker Lecuona and Sam Lowes.
Race 1 at Magny-Cours was closely disrupted by crashes and required a restart after a crimson flag. Bulega’s preliminary launch was clear, however Lecuona grabbed the lead from his teammate within the opening corners, whereas Alex Lowes moved previous his brother Sam.
Early chaos and a crimson flag
In the back of the pack, GYTR GRT Yamaha’s Remy Gardner was the primary of a number of riders to go down, visibly indignant with Xavi Vierge after contact between the 2. Somkiat Chantra returned to the pits after only one lap, ending his race prematurely.
A couple of laps later, Miguel Oliveira, whose contract extension with BMW was confirmed this weekend, fell sufferer to Magny-Cours’ Flip 8. Mattia Rato additionally crashed at Flip 3 because the Aruba.it Ducati riders started to drag away from their rivals. Stefano Manzi’s race ended early with a crash at Flip 17, and with 12 laps remaining, Tom Bridewell suffered a heavy fall at Flip 15. Thankfully, the British rider escaped with solely a lip contusion.
That incident triggered the crimson flag that stopped Race 1 at Magny-Cours earlier than it was restarted minutes later.
Bulega untouchable in French WorldSBK spherical
As on the first begin, Lecuona bought the higher of his teammate into the primary corners, however Bulega quickly reclaimed P1 and started to construct a spot, underlining his dominance as soon as once more. He then went on to transform that benefit right into a commanding victory, his twenty fourth of the 2026 WorldSBK season. Bulega additionally set the quickest race lap, clocking 1:35.030 to beat Toprak Razgatlioglu’s 2025 benchmark of 1:35.500.
