Nicolo Bulega: New Ducati WorldSBK “incredible” but “too early” to be sure

A lack of dry running in preseason testing means it’s “too early” to draw conclusions about the WorldSBK Ducati Panigale V4 R, Nicolo Bulega thinks.

Bulega was fastest on the final day of the Portimao test, and on the last day of the Jerez test, but dry mileage was limited for everyone at both; indeed, the second day in Portimao was wet from start to finish.

As a result, while Bulega feels the new bike is “incredible” he is not yet ready to say for certain if it is a step forward over the previous generation, which he took to 20 World Superbike race wins in the past two seasons.

“I think this new model of the Ducati Panigale V4 R is incredible,” said Nicolo Bulega, speaking to WorldSBK.com during the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team launch on 3 February.

“We can make a step forward but for the moment it’s too early to say because during the winter test we were not very lucky with the weather, so I hope to improve during the year.”

Bulega added that he is hoping to pick up where he left off last year in Phillip Island, the Italian securing a commanding treble in 2025 after winning his first-ever World Superbike race in Australia in 2024.

“I arrive in Phillip Island, it’s my favourite track so I hope to be fast like last year – and even more,” he said.

“Honestly, it was not a very good winter because during the test we found always bad weather. We will see in Australia, but I feel ready.”

Despite his performance in 2025, Bulega says he is not sure whether he is the favourite for the 2026 title or not.

“We fought for the championship the last two years and I hope this is a good year,” he said.

“I don’t know if I’m the favourite but honestly I don’t want to think about it because every year is different, every year there are new riders with different manufacturers and it can be different. I just want to stay focused and try to be fast in every race.”