Nicolo Bulega bemoans “not the best” feeling despite topping French WorldSBK practice
Nicolo Bulega was fastest in both French WorldSBK practices on Friday, but bemoaned a poor feeling afterwards.
Nicolo Bulega may have been fastest on Friday at the French WorldSBK, but he feels he has margin to improve on Saturday.
Bulega was fastest by almost 0.3 seconds in FP1 and was the only rider to lap in the 1m35s bracket in FP2.
The Italian ended the day as the clear favourite to take pole position and all three wins this weekend, but he says his feeling is “not the best” after day one of the first round at which he can mathematically clinch the 2026 WorldSBK title.
“Good way [to start the weekend] for the position, but honestly the feeling was not the best,” Nicolo Bulega said, speaking to WorldSBK.com after FP2 in France.
“I would like to improve in some areas because I feel that I can go faster, but it’s a bit difficult right now for the feeling.”
Bulega added: “[The bike is] too much physical in this track. I would like to be more precise and ride [with] a bit more natural riding style.”
The Italian added that he had tried a different setup in FP2 than what he used in FP1. It was better in some areas but not others, meaning a rethink is required, Bulega thinks.
“We tried a different setup compared to this morning,” he said.
“In some areas I liked it a little bit more, but in others a bit less. So, I think it’s not the real way to improve.
“I want to improve other things, so we have to try again tomorrow morning.”
Bulega goes into Saturday with a 133-point championship lead over team-mate Iker Lecuona, who says he brought elements of his MotoGP setup to WorldSBK this weekend after filling in at Gresini Ducati earlier in the year. Lecuona also suffered a crash on Friday afternoon, which he put down to underprepared tyres.
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
