Nicolo Bulega Still Learning to Start: The Panigale V4R Superbike Clutch is Different from the Panigale V2 Supersport

RiderTua.com – In the Superpole race at Phillip Island, Nicolo Bulega started from pole position. However, he was then pushed into 3rd place by Andrea Iannone (Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki), who started better. Unfortunately, a short time later the rookie from the Aruba.it Ducati team lost the duel against Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW), Remy Gardner and Locatelli (both Yamaha) and slipped back to 7th position. Then he got back on track and took 5th place.

His work in the second race was even harder. Starting from fifth position, Bulega dropped back to 10th position in three laps until the race was stopped (Jonathan Rea crashed), where it had to be restarted. Once again Bulega dropped at the start and was in 13th position after one lap. But then he quickly corrected the situation, got better and recorded the fastest lap in the race restart on lap 9. As the peak of his comeback, the 2023 supersport world champion pushed up from 8th to 5th position on the final lap.

Nicolo Bulega Still Learning to Start

Nicolo Bulega explained, “Unfortunately I didn’t start well. I really need to practice using the clutch (SBK) because it’s very different to a supersport bike (SSP). Even so, I’m happy because it was a great first weekend for me in the Championship World Superbike. Pole position, one win, two fastest race laps and two 5th places, that’s a record that’s certainly impressive at the start of the season.”

One of the strengths of defending champion Alvaro Bautista’s new teammate in Sunday’s race was that he was able to manage his tires very well and his tire grip was still very strong during the race.

“Especially at the end of the second race, I was very fast on used tires and caught up quickly. My bad luck was that the race was very short. Otherwise, I might have caught up with the riders in front of me!” concluded the rider from Italy.