Nicolo Bulega: ‘I would have signed for second place behind Toprak two months ago’
Nicolo Bulega was𝓰 left upbeat following Race 1 of the Catalunya WorldSBK round, despite being ca♉ught and passed by Toprak Razgatlioglu for victory.
Nicolo Bulega le💛d much of the race as he stretched clear from the lik🌠es of Andrea Iannone and Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Bulega inherited the lead a few laps in when fellow rookie Sam Lowes crashed out, which began a serꦚies of very 𝕴fast laps from the Italian.
- 2024 W🌟orld Superbike Catalunya - Race (1) Results - Toprak Razgat♛lioglu wins
- 2024 World Superbike Catalunya - Super🔜pole Results
But despite bei🔯ng in control for much of the race, Bulega eventually ran into tyre wear issues and began shedding time to Razgatlioglu.
After being caught on the penultimate lap, Bulega lost the lead at turn five before finishing just under a second dow🔯n on the BMW rider.
“Hone🤡stly, I didn’t have a strategy,” said Bulega. “It was my first long race because in Australia we d𝓰id a pit stop.
“In the end,🅷 unfortunately my rear tyre was completely dead. It was difficult for me to manage and Toprak was very fast in the end.
“His tyre life was a bit better than mine. Maybe I pushed a little bit too much at the beginn🉐ing to overtake them because I was very fast.
“Today, I think I learned so🌱mething. I will be more prepared n𒈔ext time.”
Bulega made a good start to Race 1, something he struggled t𝕴o do throughout the season-opener.
How🌠ever, Bulꩲega was still pushed down order after being overtaken by Iannone and Lowes at the first corner.
Admitting 💙he could be more aggressive, Bulegaꦦ said: “The start was good because I improved a lot from Australia.
“Then, in the first corner; I don’t remember who it was - maybe Lowes - entered very aggressively and I lost some p💙ositions.
“I’m happy because I improved the start but maybe I can be a bit more ༺aggress๊ive in the first few corners.”
Asked when he began suffering with his rear tyre, Bulega said he could do notꦗhing to ဣstop the gap to Razgatlioglu from dropping with three laps remaining.
Bulega added: “Three laps to go.💧 My pit board guy gave me the seconds and I saw 3, 2, 1 but it was not enough to win the race.
“I’m happy because I’m a rooki🙈e and I’m only at my ෴second round.
“If you asked me two months ago I would sign for a second place behind Topra💟k on the 💝last lap.
“So it is a n🌠ice firဣst two races for me and it’s more experience.”
