It is a rare day indeed when Nicolo Bulega gets beaten for sheer pace. Aruba.it Racing - Ducati rider Bulega had to settle for second place in Race 1 at Cremona Circuit as teammate Iker Lecuona dominated the weekend to claim his second WorldSBK victory.
The weekend started out as a proper handful for Bulega. Friday brought two crashes, though he still managed second on the combined timesheets just behind Lecuona. Free Practice 3 saw the #11 stand alone as the only rider failing to improve on his Friday lap time, sticking to his usual routine of a single long run to collect data. Come the Tissot Superpole session, Bulega smashed the previous pole lap record with a 1’27.297s, yet still had to accept the second fastest time.
Race 1 itself brought immediate drama. A slightly sluggish start dropped Bulega to third as Yari Montella of Barni Spark Racing Team jumped from fifth on the grid, pushing past Alberto Surra of Motocorsa Racing. The MotoGP-bound Bulega got a quick reprieve when Montella binned it at Turn 13 on the opening lap, though he still had to deal with rookie Surra breathing down his neck. By Lap 4, Bulega had stretched a gap of over a second to third place, and when Surra crashed out on Lap 9, that second-place finish was entirely safe. Seeing Lecuona vanishing up the road, Bulega sensibly shifted into championship mode to bank 20 crucial points.
“I think I have to be happy. Yesterday I lost a bit of the feeling with the bike after the FP2 crash. Today, the target was to rebuild confidence and try to make good pace. Iker was just very strong, faster than us, so I decided it made no sense to take risks and try something stupid. I decided that second was a very good position; I want to close the Championship here, so second here was a clever position,” Bulega explained. When someone pointed out that finishing second actually counts as one of his worst results this season, he just laughed and joked: “Yeah, very bad results! It’s ok, we have to be intelligent sometimes, so second was good.”
The title fight now moves to Sunday with the championship still very much on the table at Cremona. Bulega can wrap it up in the Tissot Superpole Race if he takes the win and Lecuona finishes sixth or worse, or if he takes second and Lecuona comes home ninth or lower. If that fails to seal the deal, ‘Bulegas’ can still secure the crown in Race 2 as long as he leaves Italy with a 124-point margin over Lecuona.
Looking ahead to Sunday's potential coronation, Bulega added: “Maybe with new tyres I have more of a chance to stay with Iker, but he’s going very fast at this track. We will see, I’ll try to stay with him in the Superpole Race, and I’ll try to close it in Race 2. Iker is doing a good job, it’s one of his best tracks, he’s doing what he has to do.”
