Nicolo Bulega: “I was nervous, it's your last chance”
Nicolo Bulega admits leaving Moto2 for World Supersport was the “last chance” to save his career.
Nicolo Bulega felt “nervous” when he left the grand prix paddock for World Supersport in 2022, knowing it represented the “last chance” to save his career.
After four winless seasons in Moto3 and Moto2, Bulega had already made one big decision by leaving Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team and Academy.
The Italian then spent two more seasons in Moto2 with Gresini, but his results deteriorated even further, finishing just 20th and then 26th in the world championship standings.
Then came an all-or-nothing switch to World Supersport, where Bulega spectacularly revived his career as a podium contender from the opening rounds, then dominated the 2023 campaign.
That brought promotion to WorldSBK with the factory Ducati team, where Bulega won his very first race and has finished runner-up to BMW’s Toprak Razgatlioglu for the past two years.
“When I went to the Superbike paddock, to Supersport, I was quite nervous,” Bulega said at Valencia.
“Because, honestly, when you go to Supersport, it's your last chance. So you have to use it at 100%.
“I was just thinking, ‘I have to win the championship and then go to Superbike and try to be fast’.
“I did it, and in the last three years I won the Supersport championship, then two times vice world champion in Superbike behind Toprak.
“So, honestly, the last years were very good, and now to come back here with these colours is very nice.”
Bulega returned to grand prix racing as Marc Marquez’s injury replacement at the factory Ducati team for Portimao and Valencia, scoring a point in each appearance before a head-turning eighth place (+0.288s) in Tuesday’s post-race test.
“I will go home with a bigger smile because today we showed that we can improve a lot, so I’m happy for this,” he said.
The 26-year-old will combine his WorldSBK duties with a new Ducati MotoGP test riding role next season. He also has one eye on joining Razgatlioglu as a full-time MotoGP rider in future.
“The dream of every rider is going to MotoGP, also mine,” he added.
In this article
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
