A successful baptism of fire for Bulega in Portugal

His rival of recent years, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, will join the premier class next year with the Pramac Yamaha team, but it was Nicolò Bulega who was the first to get a taste of the MotoGP, during his first of two stints replacing the injured world champion Marc Márquez.

Having had little time to adapt to riding a MotoGP prototype on Michelin tires, having been accustomed to production-derived bikes fitted with Pirellis, Nicolò Bulega crashed during Saturday's Sprint. He was therefore determined not to repeat the same mistake on Sunday.

“Honestly, for me it was very important to finish the race, because on Saturday I made an inexperienced mistake. In the first few laps, I was very, very calm. I was just trying to get the front tire up to temperature to understand how to brake. And I kept repeating to myself throughout the race, ‘Don’t brake like you’re on a Superbike, don’t brake like you’re on a Superbike.’ It was a bit difficult at the beginning. Then, when I caught up with Miguel (Oliveira) and the guys in front, I made a mistake at turn 5, I went too wide, and I lost 2 or 3 seconds, I think. In the last few laps, I was trying to adapt my riding style to the bike, and I think I learned some interesting things that I’ll try to apply right from the start of the weekend in Valencia.”

Having set his fastest lap of the race towards the end, the Italian rider gradually learned how to handle a MotoGP machine throughout the weekend. The main difference lies in the braking phases; while a Superbike encourages its rider to "slam on the brakes" from the outset, MotoGP demands a more gradual approach. His slight mistake behind Oliveira stemmed in particular from this braking, which had already caught him out on Saturday in the Sprint.

“I made a mistake because I was fighting with the rear and then I had to brake. I loosened the rear, but when I braked, I started to feel like I was being a bit aggressive, so I eased off because I was worried about crashing. I preferred to go wide, but I lost more than 3 seconds, I think. Then I caught up with Miguel, and there were a few riders ahead. In the end, my pace was good. If you look at the last 6 or 7 laps, my pace was pretty good. I'm happy with the second half of the race because if I stay on the bike, I can improve a lot.”

Nicolò Bulega will have a second chance on the Ducati GP25 this weekend at the Valencia Grand Prix. He hopes to ride more naturally than he did at Portimão: “Right now, I’m not riding naturally; I’m riding by thinking about what I need to do on the bike. When you ride like that, it’s difficult to go fast because normally, when you’re riding fast, you don’t think much. Right now, I’m thinking a lot.”

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