WSBK Superbike Estoril Race 2: Nicolo Bulega never gives up, Ducati's world championship hanging by a thread

Nicholas Bulega won race 2 of the Superbike World Championship in Estoril, Portugal.

De Paul Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com

Nicholas Bulega will probably not win this Superbike World Championship, but no one will be able to say that he did not give his all, or even more. His victory in Race 2 at Estoril postpones the celebration of Toprak Razgatlioglu and gives a little flavor to the final confrontation in Jerez, in a week. There is now a 39-point gap in favor of BMW.
Facing a formidable opponent like Toprak Razgatlioglu, who hammers every weekend like a blacksmith, the 26-year-old Ducati rider never loses his composure or his desire to fight until the last breath. In Race 2 at Estoril, he pulled an exceptional performance out of his hat.

Toprak trapped
The BMW ace didn't perform brilliantly at the start, finishing only fourth on the first lap. He quickly broke free, but by then Bulega had escaped. The Ducati wasn't far behind, but this time Toprak couldn't catch it. For Nicolò, this is his 11th victory of the season, compared to the world leader's 21. The gap in the standings is now 39 points, out of the 62 at stake in the last three races. Toprak will, however, be champion if he wins Race 1 in Andalusia.

But where are the others?
In this edition of the Superbike, it seems that Toprak and Nicolò are racing with bikes of different displacement compared to the others. Alvaro Bautista, the other official Ducati rider, returned to the podium, but he was fifteen seconds behind, a huge gap. Yamaha, despite the bonus of half a kilo/hour of extra fuel, took twenty seconds with Andrea Locatelli Fifth. We repeat: if the FIM and Dorna's intention is to allow everyone to be protagonists, the objective has failed miserably. The technical regulations are not only convoluted, but also completely ineffective for the task assigned to them.

Donald Iannone
In this race 2, Andrea Iannone seemed extremely fit. But his chances of a podium finish were dashed by yet another jump start, which cost him a two-lap penalty. In the first two laps, the former MotoGP rider had even brilliantly overtaken Toprak RazgatliogluBut his talent was in vain: he experienced all sorts of misfortunes. He finished twelfth, first among the privateers: this is certainly not what he aspires to. One has the impression that, with a technical situation up to scratch, Iannone could still have his say, against everyone.

Last stop: Jerez
The world championship will be decided next weekend in Jerez, Spain. It will be the twelfth round of a championship that has only had one stop outside Europe, last February at Phillip Island, Australia. Still in Andalusia, two days after the end of this championship, we will already be in 2026: some factory teams will remain on track on Tuesday and Wednesday for the debut of the new combinations. Toprak Razgatlioglu, meanwhile, is changing air as he prepares to make his MotoGP debut with the official Yamaha of the Pramac team.

 

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Paul Gozzi

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com

Superbike Estoril Course-2 Bulega