Checking the track temperature
timing charts with the first ever sub 1m 28s lap of the Island . And 325km / h on the main straight isn ’ t hanging around , although Vierge on the Honda managed to squeeze another 2km / h out of the Honda but quick in a straight line doesn ’ t always translate to a quick lap and he found himself well down the grid in thirteenth spot . Back up front , it was Iannone making it clear that he wasn ’ t there to make up the numbers by scoring second place on the grid with Alex Lowes just fractions of a second off The Maniac ’ s pace . You would have got pretty fantastic odds with a bookmaker if you ’ d laid money down on the front row of the grid being Bulega , Iannone and Lowes , but this is exactly what the series needs as another season of the Bautista , Toprak and Rea show wasn ’ t going to make for great viewing .
THE RACE FORMAT WorldSBK runs three races through the weekend . On Saturday , the first of the full-length races , twenty laps with the mid-race tyre change for this event , an oddity that hopefully won ’ t be repeated at any other rounds through the season . Sunday sees two races , the Tissot Sprint race , ten laps , no tyre changes . And then finally the second of the full-length races , another twenty laps with tyre change . The first nine grid positions for the second full length race are based not on Saturday ’ s Superpole times but on race positions in the Tissot Sprint race .
GO TIME ! Come race-time , Bulega and Iannone immediately impressed and showed that their one lap pace in Superpole was no freakshow . Bulega ’ s emphatic Race One win , after a relatively poor start off the line dropped him back to fifth , suggested that , whilst Bautista ’ s wings might have been clipped a little , Aruba . it factory Ducati was still going to be a dominant force . Bautista ’ s lap four crash whilst running in eighth denied us the chance of getting a real picture of his race pace . Bulega ’ s win was the first win by a previous years ’ World Supersport champion on their debut in World Superbikes . And with Iannone bringing the GoEleven V4 home in third , there were two series debutants on the podium . Second place went to Locatelli on the PATA Yamaha with his ex-teammate Toprak on the BMW crossing the line in fourth but relegated to fifth because of a time penalty of 1.225s for leaving pitlane after his wheel change under the 1m3sec mandatory minimum . Fractions of a second less to be fair , but the penalty was five times the infraction so the breach ballooned out into that 1.225s penalty , elevating Alex Lowes to fourth on the official results sheet . Whilst fourth
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