Positive Sunday for Nicolo Bulega, who at Donington straightened out a weekend that began with some setup difficulties, taking second place in both the superpole race and race 2, behind an uncatchable Toprak. The Italian Ducati rider thus leaves the English round with a remarkable haul of points, which keeps him second in the standings with 200 points, 41 behind the Turkish BMW rider. The consistency of the Emilian rider is therefore undeniable and, at the end of the fifth round of the season and almost halfway through the championship, he is among the main contenders for the Turkish leader in the race for the title.
“I’m happy with the result – the Italian begins – because this podium wasn’t easy. When we started riding on Friday the sensations on the bike weren’t the best, and during this weekend we changed the setup several times to find optimal solutions that were in agreement with my riding style. In the end we managed to get a good result, not at Toprak’s level obviously, but we improved a lot. Maybe if I had had one more day to ride things would have gone differently, but unfortunately the weekend is over. Overall though it was a positive Sunday, yesterday in qualifying it hadn’t gone badly, even if I had only done one lap and the sensations on the bike hadn’t been fantastic. Then in race 1 I had some problems with the front, but last night we worked well and found some solutions for the front too. We leave Donington with a second place in the superpole and a second step on the podium in race 2, so it was a positive weekend”.
Since your debut in Australia you have managed to be consistent in the results, yesterday aside. Fighting against Toprak is not easy but this could be the key for the future in view of the championship fight.
“I started this championship with the aim of scoring points and not making mistakes, because at the end of the championship if you are consistent you get more than winning one race and crashing in another. It is better to finish second several times than crash, even if it is clear that if victory were within reach I would try. This season has started well, the sensations on the bike have always been positive, which is not easy in Superbike. It is difficult to explain it if you are not a rider, coming from the Supersport championship you have to adapt your riding style a lot to the new bike, forgetting what you knew before. It is a surprise for me too, so I am satisfied. Unfortunately Toprak had more this weekend, and BMW is also showing that they know how to work well. For me it is not easy, in every circuit with the team we have to start from scratch, like this weekend”.
What surprised you about Toprak and BMW?
“They have really good traction coming out of the corners, they accelerate with great stability in the rear of the bike, but I’ve seen that in the other BMW riders too, they have very good traction on the corner when they open the throttle. But Toprak is also riding really well, it’s clear, he’s a champion and he’s using 100% of his bike, he’s got a good package to work with now.”
How important is it to get two podiums in a weekend where the feeling on the bike wasn’t the best?
“It’s very important, on Friday I wasn’t happy at all. I went to sleep thinking that I would have to settle for a top 10, the feelings were really negative. On Saturday however things improved, and today we made another step forward. Not the best bike I’ve ridden this season, but I’m happy because we improved, we started from the bottom and arrived at the top. I’ll think about this weekend the next time we have problems”.
What happened with Iannone at the end of the superpole race?
“I honestly have no idea, I was punching Bautista, maybe Andrea didn’t see me and cut my trajectory, but maybe he didn’t see me.”
