The Circuit of Barcelona-Catalonia hosted an official test for two days Superbike during which Nicholas Bulega carried out fruitful work towards the World SBK Pirelli Catalunya Round next weekend.
Here are the highlights of Montmeló.
From the first day, under a radiant sun, Nicholas Bulega has confirmed that he is comfortable with the official Ducati Panigale V4R. He tested different tire solutions, achieving very competitive times both in race pace and in time trials, setting the best time of the day, in 1'40.304 while the Catalan circuit record belonged to his current teammate, Alvaro Bautista, in 1'40.264 since the 2023 Superpole.
Nicholas Bulega : "It's not a bad feeling to be in first place!" I know it's just a test, but it gives me a lot of confidence to be P1, but even if I was P2, I am fast, so it's good. I used the SCQ, like everyone else, I think. I used it like Alvaro, Toprak and many others. I tried the new Pirelli C900 tire and liked it; I think he can be a good choice for this round. All the tires I tried today gave me a good feeling. We focused a lot on the clutch because in Australia my three starts were bad. We tried something new on the clutch to get a better start. I've improved a bit, so I'm happy, but when you're racing it's harder. »
- Results of the 1st day
On the second day, the circuit was made slippery by a light rain overnight, but once dried by the sun, the riders were able to get back on their motorcycles at the end of the morning.
Nicholas Bulega also finished the second day at the top of the timesheet, setting a new record on the circuit in 1'40.172 at the end of the session, after having dethroned Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) which was then at the top of the standings.
Second in the championship, 9 points behindalex lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), the Ducati rookie is not missing his start to the season, and could even return to the top of the Superbike category in around ten days, after the Catalan round which will be held on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit of March 22 to 24.
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #11): " We are on the right path. With the team, we did a very efficient job as always. We worked hard on tire choice and set-up and I think the guidance we got will be beneficial for next weekend. The feeling with the bike was very good and this is confirmed both by the race pace and the attack times. It is clear that we still have work to do to iron out details that could take us a step forward, but the result of these tests is undoubtedly positive.
- Results of the 2nd day
- Combined results from both days
Credit rankings: WorldSBK.com
