Absolute dominator of the pre-season tests, winner on his Superbike debut. It certainly cannot be said that Nicolò Bulega is not adapting well to the premier class of production derivatives, because even the Barcelona tests, archived yesterday, bear his signature. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider dominated Day 1 and then confirmed his position on the final day, even going under the track record.
Until yesterday, the Montmelo reference had belonged to Alvaro Bautusta, who had set a 1'40”264. But now Bulega has the track record, after yesterday he set a 1'40″172: “I don't want to say it's easier, but in tests you can try to be fast many times. On a race weekend it's not possible, because you don't have many tyres. You're in a different situation.”
The rookie once again proved himself to be a great contender and appears at ease astride the Ducati Panigale V4R, with which he concluded the tests as a dominator and takes stock of the work carried out: “I'm happy with how these tests went. In my opinion we have found a good starting point for next week's weekend. It wasn't obvious, because the conditions were completely different to Australia, but in the end we proved to be fast even in these conditions and on another track. It's important, but the opponents also did a great job. We will try to find something to do even better.”
Nicolò Bulega, Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
But what was the secret to his speed and consistency? The reigning Supersport champion says that it wasn't all rosy, some difficulties arose over the two days, topped with a small crash which however had no consequences: “We didn't do anything special, just some different setups , but we went back. I put in a few good laps with the Day 1 setup, because I liked what we tried on Day 2 in some areas, but not in others. After a crash in Turn 1 we went back and the feeling is also back to what it was before.”
The only one capable of coming close to Bulega's record time was Toprak Razgatlioglu, who closed behind him on both days, coming very close on Day 2. The BMW rider seems like a very tough opponent, but the Ducati rider believes he has could have achieved something more in the last time attack.
“Toprak came very close on the last lap. But apart from that, I'm happy because the pace was good. I had a great lap, but not in perfect conditions. Also, when I tried again with the second soft tire , I made a mistake, but at that moment I was a tenth faster than my previous time. So my time would have been a little better, but for being just a test it was good”, concludes Bulega.
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