Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) had a Sunday to forget at the TT Circuit Assen as the third round of the 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship concluded. The #11 had two technical issues in racing on the final day of the Pirelli Dutch Round, costing him a potential podium finish in the Tissot Superpole Race and a likely win in Race 2, after retiring with two laps to go with a couple of seconds in hand over eventual winner Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha).

Bulega came into Sunday’s action full of confidence after a dominant Race 1 victory on Saturday, and he was running in P2 behind Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in the 10-lap Superpole Race, which was held in wet but drying conditions. He ran wide at Turn 1, which allowed Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) to take P2, before slowing on the run between Turns 5 and 6 with a technical issue that eventually saw him retire.

Forced to start from tenth in Race 2, ‘Bulegas’ made slow progress in the early stages before making his way up to the race lead around halfway through the 21-lap race as he looked to pull off a remarkable comeback. He was leading Locatelli by 2.211s at the end of Lap 19 and looked to have the race under control but, at the start of Lap 20, he suffered a technical issue and retired from the race.

Explaining what happened during Sunday’s races, the Championship leader said: “Honestly, I don’t know what to say. We had a problem this morning when I was second and then third. Then, I started again, I had a very good race. I was first with a margin and with two laps to go, my bike turned off again, like this morning. I don’t know what to say. They’re checking what the problem is but, for me, it was very similar to the Superpole Race.”

Next up for Bulega is a home round, with the Cremona Circuit hosting the action. He heads into Round 4 as the Championship leader but with his lead cut, despite Razgatlioglu’s struggles in the dry Race 1 and Race 2 action at Assen. Looking ahead to his home round, Bulega said: “I will try to do my best like always to recover points. Now, I’m just thinking what I lost today which was a lot. I will try to recover next time.”

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