Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) ended his wait for his second victory in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship as he fended off Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the Tissot Superpole Race during the Motul French Round. The #11 finished just 0.115s clear of his rival when the chequered flag fell at the end of the 10-lap race to win his first race since the season-opening encounter at the Australia Round, before backing that up with a commanding Race 2 victory ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team).

BULEGA'S HARD-FOUGHT SUPERPOLE RACE WIN: fending off the in-form Alex Lowes

Bulega crashed out of Race 1 on the opening lap on Saturday and was looking to bounce back, and he did so in style. Lowes got the holeshot from pole position when the lights went out but ‘Bulegas’ wasted no time in passing the #22 as he moved up the inside of Turn 5 on Lap 1 to move into first. From there, he looked to build up a gap to the chasing pack and, in the first half of the race, was able to do. However, Lowes started to close the gap in the final five laps.

With three laps to go, Lowes moved his Kawasaki ZX-10RR machine ahead of Bulega at Turn 5 but the Ducati rider cut back at the Adelaide Hairpin and re-took P1 heading into the Nurburgring chicane. Lowes then tried to pass his rival again at Turn 13 on the penultimate lap, but ran wide, allowing Bulega to take a larger gap into the final lap. Despite the #22 closing up in the second half of the final tour, Bulega held on to take victory and return to the top step for the first time in 21 races.

BACKING IT UP WITH RACE 2 VICTORY: Bulega untouchable on Sunday afternoon

Bulega followed up his Superpole Race win with victory in Race 2 by beating Petrucci by around two seconds. The #11 got the holeshot when lights went out and immediately built up a gap to Alex Lowes in second before the Brit ran wide at Turn 8 and fell to 19^th. That handed second place to Petrucci but the Independent Ducati rider was unable to catch Bulega out in front, with the factory Ducati rider claiming victory.

Reflecting on his Sunday double, Bulega said: “It’s incredible. I needed a day like this after Saturday because that was a very bad day for us. I was fast all weekend from the beginning, but it was very difficult to put it all together especially with the strange weather conditions. I felt that I had the speed, but it was difficult to put it all together. Today, finally, I put it all together and won the Superpole Race and Race 2. It’s incredible, thanks to all my team and all the doctors because they helped me have less pain after Race 1’s huge crash.”

RACE 2 STRATEGY REVEALED: “I tried to push from the beginning… I knew that from half race distance, I could start to have problems…”

After his crash in Race 1 at the Turns 16-17 chicane, Bulega was reviewed in the medical centre on Saturday and was declared fit on Sunday morning after a reassessment although he was suffering from right shoulder and collarbone contusions. With 21 laps of racing to come in Race 2, managing this would be crucial in determining the outcome of Bulega’s race and he revealed after that he had devised a strategy which he hoped would help him.

On his Race 2 strategy, the Ducati rider said: “I tried to push a lot from the beginning because I knew that maybe from half race distance, I could start to have problems with my shoulder. I tried to make a gap in the opening laps, so I was able to reduce the rhythm a little bit at the end of the race if I needed to. Petrucci was very fast today so I tried to maintain the gap. In the end, it was a perfect race.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT: 55 points behind Razgatlioglu

With Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) declared unfit after his Free Practice 2 crash, Bulega closed the gap in the Championship standings to 55 points after gaining 37 on the #54. Although he played down his chances of clinching the World Superbike title in his rookie season, Bulega did discuss the opportunity to fight for the title with the BMW star.

Asked whether he was the main contender to Razgatlioglu, Bulega said: “I don’t know. I’m really sorry that Toprak had this problem because he crashed in a very fast and difficult point. I’m sorry for him. I knew that I had the opportunity to take some points and I tried to do my best today; I tried also on Saturday, but it wasn’t like Sunday! Toprak will be very fast like always, so he’ll be strong. I don’t know if can beat him but, for sure, I will try.”

Follow all the WorldSBK action from the next round at Cremona using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now 50% off!