Bulega wins Race 1 and, with the Pirelli SCX, beats the record set in 2025 with the SCQ

· Unstoppable Bulega. In Race 1 of the Pirelli Dutch Round, the third round of the FIM Superbike World Championship, Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) took his seventh consecutive win of the season after a strong battle with team-mate Iker Lecuona, who finished second at Assen. Third place went to Sam Lowes, for an all-Ducati podium. All riders used SC1 soft compound tyres at the front and SC0 soft at the rear.

· The SCX beats the SCQ. The competitiveness of Pirelli’s softest solutions, even with fairly low temperatures, was confirmed by the new Assen lap record set by Nicolò Bulega in qualifying. Using the Pirelli SCX supersoft rear, the Italian Ducati rider stopped the clocks at 1’32.144, almost half a second quicker than the 1’32.596 set by Sam Lowes last year with the SCQ extrasoft. As well as the World Championship leader, the other two Ducati riders completing the front row – Lowes and Iker Lecuona – also beat the previous record.

· Masia wins on SCX. Jaume Masia (Ducati) won Race 1 in WorldSSP, ahead of Albert Arenas (Yamaha) and Tom Booth-Amos (Triumph). The first two finishers, as well as 22 other riders, used the SCX supersoft at the rear; the remaining 10, including the third-placed rider, opted for the soft SC0. The SC1 was the unanimous choice at the front. The World Sportbike Championship was also on track, with a win for home rider Jeffrey Buis (Suzuki), while in the WorldWCR race the Spanish rider Maria Herrera (Yamaha) took her second win of the season. Both classes ran DIABLO Superbike tyres in SC1 compound front and rear.

· Weather. Over the first two days, track temperatures fluctuated between 16 °C (the first and third Superbike free practice sessions) and 24 °C (Supersport Race 1).

New supersoft SCX tyre record-setting even in low temperatures
 
“Despite the low temperatures, typical of Assen at this time of year, soft tyres were used in both WorldSBK and WorldSSP. The development work Pirelli has carried out over the years has enabled us to improve versatility and widen the operating temperature window of our tyres. As a result, the soft compounds were used with track temperatures slightly over 20 °C, delivering excellent performance. The new SCX supersoft tyre range, already used last year as development specification E0126, allowed Bulega in qualifying to improve the 2025 lap record by almost half a second, which was set with an even softer compound, the SCQ extrasoft. The SC0, on the other hand, starred in Race1: given the rather low temperatures, the riders preferred an already well-established solution to the development alternative F0298.
In WorldSSP, both rear options – SCX and SC0 – proved equally competitive, as confirmed by the choices made by the riders on the podium.
At the front, in both classes, the choice was unanimous: SC1, which ensures good grip and stability.
For tomorrow’s Superpole Race, in dry conditions, we expect the SCX supersoft to be used at the rear, as it is more competitive over the 10-lap distance thanks to the extra grip compared to the SC0.”