‘Dangerous to follow Petrucci’ - Nicolo Bulega accepts Cremona WorldSBK Race 1 podium
“He had something more than me, especially in the front…”
A second place for Nicolo Bulega in Race 1 at the WorldSBK Italian Round saw him close to within 35 points of the championship lead.
Bulega was happy to have banked the 20 points for second, especially in the absence of championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu, but felt there was no way he could have fought Danilo Petrucci for the win and those extra five points.
“Very good points in my pocket,” Bulega told WorldSBK.com after Race 1 at Cremona. “So, I’m very happy for this second place, it’s very important.
“Danilo [Petrucci] today was very fast. It was dangerous to follow him because he had something more than me, especially in the front.
“I didn’t like my bike, so I decided that 20 points was better than nothing.
“We have to work, maybe we have to come back, because we tried something different that I didn’t like. I think we will come back, and then I hope to have my 100 per cent feeling back.”
Going into more detail about the steps he needs to make, Bulega explained that he needs to improve his feeling with the front end of his Ducati.
“We improve a lot the bike from yesterday,” he said. “But we still miss something to, for example, stay with Danilo.
“I didn’t have the perfect feeling in the front, so I was not able to push like I want.
“I had to be careful. I was riding at 90 per cent, because if I push at 100 per cent maybe I crash. So, I was just waiting to finish the race and take 20 points.”
Bulega can still take the championship lead from Razgatlioglu tomorrow, and will start from pole position for the Superpole Race, but would have to win both races to do so.
