Nicolo Bulega: “Good feeling didn’t arrive” at Portimao World Superbike test

The recent in-season Portimao WorldSBK test was similar in many ways to the winter test at the same venue, with rain affecting both days in the Algarve, and Toprak Razgatlioglu beating Nicolo Bulega to the top spot.

However, Bulega – who took a superlative triple victory at the 2025 World Superbike season opener in Australia – left last weekend’s test feeling as though he hasn’t been able to find the same kind of feeling with the Ducati Panigale V4 R; and that his efforts to find a good feeling were hampered by a crash at turn 11 on Saturday morning that saw him head to the medical centre, although he was ultimately cleared of any major injuries.

“It was a bit of a difficult test for us because we worked hard to find a good feeling, but it didn’t arrive,” Bulega told WorldSBK.com.

“[On Saturday morning] I had a big crash on a very fast corner here in Portimao. Fortunately, I am good, but it was more difficult to work because we lost some time as a result, then later the rain made it a difficult and strange test.

“At the end of the session, the last 15 minutes, we were a bit better; we still have lots of work to do but, in the end, we were a lot better.”

For Bulega’s Aruba.it Racing Ducati teammate Alvaro Bautista, the test was only as long as the second day after he elected not to ride on Friday.

In comparison to Bulega, the two-time WorldSBK Champion was more positive, although he suffered in the afternoon when it started to rain.

“We were able to do some laps, especially in the morning, we started the day with the same setup that we finished the last round with, in Australia,” Bautista said after the test.

“The feeling was good, I felt good on the bike. We made some small changes but nothing big.

“In the afternoon with the rain, the feeling was a bit worse because I couldn’t feel the tires as easily.

“In general, in the morning I felt good, the pace wasn’t too bad, but we will have to see what the conditions will be like on the race weekend, we prepared the base setup and we will adapt the package from there.”