“Fantastic first day” but Nicolo Bulega insists: “My riding wasn’t the best”

Nicolo Bulega made an instant impression on MotoGP by finishing opening practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix in 14th place, ahead of factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia.

Bagnaia, who later explained he was struggling on the medium front tyre, later restored order with a strong second place to Alex Marquez in the afternoon session.

But Bagnaia was also quick to praise Bulega’s efforts, with the reigning WorldSBK title runner-up maintaining a one-second margin to the top on his way to 17th overall out of 22 riders.

“He impressed me,” said Bagnaia. “He did just 30 laps at Jerez, in not very good conditions, before arriving here. So to be just one second behind the leader is impressive. For me it was fantastic first day.”

Bulega, meanwhile, downplayed his performance and said that “ironically, my riding wasn’t the best.”

“Today went quite well,” Bulega began. “I didn’t give too much importance to the classification: what really mattered was completing as many laps as possible and understanding the many differences compared to the bike I’m used to.

“The tyres are different, there are the ride-height devices to manage, and the Desmosedici GP is really a powerful machine.

“The positive thing, ironically enough, is that my riding wasn’t the best - but I guess that’s quite normal.

“There’s a lot to process and absorb, but I’ll sleep on it and start tomorrow with one more day of experience.”