#PortugueseWorldSBK Top Three Reflections – Nicolò Bulega: “Every time he passed me was always on the limit.”

WorldSBK ended up in an electric affair with ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team’s Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Nicolò Bulega battling for the win against each other. Razgatlıoğlu took the win in the last lap after some back and forth and uncertainty as they swapped positions multiple times. MGM BONOVO Racing’s Scott Redding and Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Álvaro Bautista had a first lap incident at Turn 4 which saw them both out of the race and Andrea Locatelli got his first podium of the season on the Pata Maxus Yamaha after a Ducati and BMW dominant Phillip Island.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu spoke about what he learnt from being behind Bulega during the race: “I learn on some corners exit, the grip  which corner is very strong, which corners is slow also where his bike is good with acceleration. I learn on this, I see on this, this is good for me because tomorrow we need to improve the bike.”

He dropped positions at the start of the race which he also addressed: ” It was very strange I don’t understand, first I’m releasing the clutch, I feel a really high RPM and after I feel like okay, I’m releasing the clutch and after I release a lot because before it’s okay and immediately I feel jumping and I stop there. A very bad start anyway I think everyone enjoy especially on the TV.”

Nicolò Bulega reflected on his race after not enjoying the test here two weeks ago: “A very nice race, I enjoyed this battle with Toprak – a bit unexpected for me because honestly in the test two weeks ago I had a very bad feeling with my bike, I crashed it two times. One of these were a very high speed crash so I was coming this weekend for okay, if I can take points is good but then we change a lot to the package of my bike and thanks to Ducati, they work hard during this week of the break from test to race. They give me more feeling so now I can almost push like I want.”

Bulega also looked ahead to tomorrow: “Our riding styles are very different, I prefer to make more corner speed but also in the breaking I was not bad because Toprak every time he passed me was always on the limit so it means that I was breaking harder too so I think we can be happy because if you see two weeks ago where I was and if you see now where I am is much different [..] For tomorrow yes, I will try to improve some parts where I need to go like I said more comfortable and try to stay with him more easier.”

Andrea Locatelli spoke about the heat at the circuit and how it effected the performance as the track reached 38 degrees before the race: “Honestly yeah it’s quite warm but basically I was quite impressed about the tires, especially on the rear because I think everyone has more or less the same problem because I feel from Toprak and Bulega a bit of sliding from the front so probably the tricky point at the moment is the front. We also need to work a bit more to find a bit more feeling because in a lot of the corner I was feeling closed the front, moving the front but I mean for this temperature, with this condition I think we ride really really good and we ride really fast so I think we do an amazing job.

“Also the track condition, it is quite good it’s not warm like last year because it was August so yeah basically, the situation and the condition at the track is quite good so we can work really well and we can have also a good choice around the tire. We can keep more or less the same feeling in every session so this is a good point.”

Race 1 Results