2023-10-04 05:38:32
Victory in the first Supersport round in Portimão was the highlight of an outstanding season for Ducati ace Nicolò Bulega. With three races to go he was confirmed as Supersport World Champion and the title can no longer be taken away from him. With 14 wins this season so far, the 23-year-old is the dominant driver in the Supersport category. In an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com, Bulega explained why things are going so well for him at the moment and what the difference is compared to his years in Moto3 and Moto2.
It was a very emotional moment for Bulega when he saw the checkered flag on the home straight in Portimão and his team held out the pitboard with the inscription ‘WorldSSP Champion’.
“It was amazing. I wasn’t thinking about the championship, I just wanted to win the race. But for me it was still important to win the championship with a win. More is not possible. I can’t even realize it yet, I’m very happy. I would like to thank all the people who stuck by me in bad years. In the end we became world champions, a big thank you goes out to them too.”
Bulega is referring to his difficult GP career. From 2015 to 2018 he competed in the Moto3 class and from 2019 to 2021 in Moto2. He achieved his best overall placement in the Motorcycle World Championship in 2016 when he finished the season in seventh place with Sky Racing Team VR46.
«My GP career wasn’t that good, especially the last two years. When I moved to the Supersport World Championship, it was completely different. I immediately felt at home in my current team from the first test in Jerez in November 2021 – almost two years ago. After the test I came home and just thought ‘OK, this could be the right team to showcase my speed and talent.'”
In its first season in the Supersport World Championship under the Next Generation regulations, Bulega achieved fourth place overall in 2022, with Dominique Aegerter (Yamaha) becoming world champion. But he was aware at the time that he had not yet fully exploited his potential and that of the V2 Ducati. Did the Italian realize that this was the biggest opportunity of his career?
«Yes, because I felt very good with my bike from the first test. Last year I wasn’t at 100 percent, my bike wasn’t at 100 percent either – but this year we were. That was the difference because if you want to win the championship, everything has to come together.”
While Álvaro Bautista (Ducati) on the Panigale V4R is the measure of all things in the Superbike World Championship, it is Bulega on the Panigale V2 in the Supersport World Championship. The other Ducati riders don’t get along nearly as well with the bike. The second best Ducati rider is Federico Caricasulo (Althesa Racing), who is fourth in the World Championship after Portimão, 222 points behind. What does the world champion do better than his brand colleagues?
«Maybe I understand the DNA of the bike a little better. You have to ride this bike completely differently than a Yamaha, a Kawasaki or other makes. I’m aware of the strengths of this bike, that’s why I can achieve great results.”
Result Supersport World Championship Portimao, Race 2: Pos Driver Motorcycle Diff 1. Stefano Manzi (I) Yamaha 2. Nicolo Bulega (I) Ducati + 0.084 sec 3. Yari Montella (I) Ducati + 3.278 4. Marcel Schrötter (D) MV Agusta + 6,300 5. Federico Caricasulo (I) Ducati + 7,905 6. Glenn van Straalen (NL) Yamaha + 9,427 7. Jorge Navarro (E) Yamaha + 13,325 8. Raffaele De Rosa (I) Ducati + 13,361 9. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (I) Yamaha + 16,393 10. Niki Tuuli (FIN) Triumph + 17,832 11. Yeray Ruiz (E) Yamaha + 18,475 12. Tom Edwards (AUS) Yamaha + 18,516 13. Ondrej Vostatek (CZ) Triumph + 19,090 14. John McPhee (GB) Ducati + 24,006 15. Can Öncü (TR) Kawasaki + 34,248 16. Álvaro Diaz (E) Yamaha + 34,768 17. Bahattin Sofuoglu (TR) MV Agusta + 38,235 18. Anupab Sarmoon (TH) Yamaha + 38,670 19. Luke Power (AUS) Kawasaki + 39.476 20. Tarran Mackenzie (GB) Honda + 39.802 21. Ibrahim Norrodin (IN) Honda + 42.559 22. Max Kofler (A) Ducati + 42.804 23. Andrea Migno (I) Honda + 58.355 24. Twan Smits (NL) Yamaha + > 1 min 25. Yuta Okaya (J) Kawasaki + > 1 min 26. Maiki Abe (J) Yamaha + > 1 min – Adrian Huertas (E) Kawasaki – Valentin Debise (F) Yamaha – Tom Booth -Amos (GB) Kawasaki Result Supersport World Championship Portimao, Race 1: Pos Driver Motorcycle Diff 1. Nicolo Bulega (I) Ducati 2. Stefano Manzi (I) Yamaha + 2.637 sec 3. Jorge Navarro (E) Yamaha + 6.521 4. Marcel Schrötter (D) MV Agusta + 14,090 5. Valentin Debise (F) Yamaha + 14,250 6. Federico Caricasulo (I) Ducati + 15,410 7. Bahattin Sofuoglu (TR) MV Agusta + 20,949 8. Raffaele De Rosa (I) Ducati + 22,986 9. Niki Tuuli (FIN) Triumph + 25,683 10. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (I) Yamaha + 28,865 11. Tom Edwards (AUS) Yamaha + 28,944 12. Ondrej Vostatek (CZ) Triumph + 29,081 13. John McPhee (GB) Ducati + 32,860 14. Can Öncü (TR) Kawasaki + 37,565 15. Tom Booth-Amos (GB) Kawasaki + 40,212 16. Yeray Ruiz (E) Yamaha + 42,049 17. Anupab Sarmoon (TH) Yamaha + 46,969 18. Luke Power (AUS ) Kawasaki + 47.119 19. Max Kofler (A) Ducati + 47.208 20. Twan Smits (NL) Yamaha + 47.371 21. Federico Fuligni (I) Ducati + 47.576 22. Tarran Mackenzie (GB) Honda + 47.763 23. Álvaro Diaz (E ) Yamaha + 48,060 24. Ibrahim Norrodin (IN) Honda + 57,213 25. Yuta Okaya (J) Kawasaki + 57,223 26. Maiki Abe (J) Yamaha + > 1 min 27. Andrea Migno (I) Honda + > 1 min – Glenn van Straalen (NL) Yamaha – Leonardo Taccini (I) Kawasaki – Yari Montella (I) Ducati – Adrian Huertas (E) Kawasaki Supersport World Championship 2023: Standings after 21 of 24 races Pos Driver Motorcycle Points 1. Nicolo Bulega (I) Ducati 453 2. Stefano Manzi (I) Yamaha 368 3. Marcel Schrötter (D) MV Agusta 293 4. Federico Caricasulo (I) Ducati 231 5. Bahattin Sofuoglu (TR) MV Agusta 168 6. Valentin Debise (F) Yamaha 160 7. Niki Tuuli (FIN) Triumph 151 8. Jorge Navarro (E) Yamaha 145 9. Yari Montella (I) Ducati 145 10. Raffaele De Rosa (I) Ducati 129 11. Glenn van Straalen (NL) Yamaha 121 12. Adrian Huertas ( E) Kawasaki 111 13. Nicolas Spinelli (I) Yamaha 74 14. Can Öncü (TR) Kawasaki 68 15. Tom Booth-Amos (GB) Kawasaki 56 16. John McPhee (GB) Kawasaki 55 17. Tarran Mackenzie (GB) Honda 40 18. Lucas Mahias (F) Kawasaki 37 19. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (I) Yamaha 29 20. Oliver Bayliss (AUS) Ducati 26 21. Tom Edwards (AUS) Yamaha 26 22. Simone Corsi (I) Yamaha 23 23. Anupab Sarmoon (TH) Yamaha 22 24. Andy Verdoia (F) Yamaha 21 25. Adam Norrodin (MAL) Honda 20 26. Ondrej Vostatek (CZ) Triumph 12 27. Filippo Fuligni (I) Yamaha 10 28. Federico Fuligni (I) Ducati 10 29. Thomas Gradinger (A) Yamaha 10 30. Yeray Ruiz (E) Yamaha 10 31. Andrea Mantovani (I) Yamaha 9 32. Johan Gimbert (F) Yamaha 9 33. Simon Jespersen (DK) Yamaha 6 34. Álvaro Diaz (E) Yamaha 6 35. Harry Truelove (GB) Triumph 5 36. Apiwath Wongthananon (TH) Yamaha 4 37. Luca Ottaviani (I) MV Agusta 4 38. Max Kofler (A) Ducati 4 39. Andreas Kofler (A) Ducati 3 40. Marco Bussolotti (I) Yamaha 2 41. Adrian Fernandez (E) Yamaha 1 42. Rhys Irwin(GB) Suzuki 1 43. Stefano Valtulini(I) Kawasaki 1 44. Luke Power (AUS) Yamaha 1
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