Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) ran through the opposition in Australia’s season-opening race weekend, kicking off the 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season in style with his first ever WorldSBK hat-trick. All through the preseason, testing he looked fast; however, it was an open question in the eyes of many how this was going to translate into race results given the limited nature of this off-season’s testing. Flying home from Australia with three P1s in his suitcase and having topped every event from Friday’s FP1 to Sunday’s Race 2, Bulega’s speed spoke for itself going back to his time in WorldSSP, Bulega has routinely distinguished himself and showed that across both Championships and on his day, he is unbeatable. While certainly quite the way to open the season, Bulega has risen to the occasion before, and in no particular order, the following are some of his career’s best races.

CLOSEST EVER FINISH: Estoril, 2024 Superpole Race

After missed opportunities at the Italian Round and the subsequent Aragon Round to cut down Toprak Razgatlioglu’s (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) considerable points lead, Bulega sent a powerful message to Razgatlioglu at Estoril. Starting back in P5 for the Tissot Superpole Race, Bulega had closed the distance and sat in a podium-earning P2 by Lap 3, where he steadily began to cut away at Toprak’s lead. On Lap 6, he was 0.656s behind Razgatlioglu in P1, down to 0.327s on Lap 8 and to 0.157s on Lap 9. Trailing ‘El Turco’ on the final lap, Nicolo Bulega picked his moment on the exit of the final corner, on the run to the line.. Razgatlioglu ran wide by the slimmest of margins, and Bulega capitalised, inching up on the #54 until he got his nose in front just before crossing the line, winning by WorldSBK’s closest-ever margin, just 0.003s separating the rivals.

FIRST EVER WORLD SUPERBIKE WIN ON DEBUT: Australia, 2024, Race 1

Bulega’s success at Phillip Island is nothing new for the Emilia-Romagna rider. Australia played host to Bulega’s first WorldSBK win, earned on debut, starting his WorldSBK career on the strongest note he could dream of. Starting from pole, Bulega tumbled down the grid to P5 after losing the holeshot to Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven). By Lap 7, just before the mandatory pit stop, Bulega had regained control and held P1 for a couple of laps before entering the pits for his tyre change. Upon his return to the track, he regained his race lead, and there was no shaking the #11 from topping the podium; from that point on, he led unchallenged, cruising comfortably to his first ever WorldSBK win.

WITHSTANDS SIEGE FROM ALEX LOWES: Magny-Cours, 2024, Tissot Superpole Race

After his debut success in Australia, Bulega was regularly featured in on the podium, however his second win eluded him for the subsequent six rounds after that, in part due to Razgatlioglu’s imperious run. With Bulega’s biggest rival out with injury, Alex Lowes, gave Nicolo Bulega a run for his money. The British rider was also looking for his first race win since Australia, and from lights out he was hot on the Italian’s tail. The biggest ever margin between the pair dogfighting for P1 was just a half a second, and as the chequered flag grew closer, the Kawasaki rider turned up the pressure. At the Turn 8 hairpin on Lap 8, Lowes had one of many tight windows closed down by Bulega, holding a line just tight enough to box out the #22. Lowes from there fought well to momentarily overtake upon entering Turn 13 but was returned the favour by Bulega upon the corner’s exit. From there Bulega maintained his lead and finished the race in P1, displaying tenacity in his ability to hold onto the lead.

FLYING OUT OF THE GATES INTO YEAR 2: Australia, Race 1 2025

While Bulega had already displayed his affinity for Phillip Island, a shortened off-season made debates about the outcome of Australia’s season debut a hot topic. Bulega was in no mood for intrigue, as from the preceding week’s Official Test to the beginning of the weekend’s Tissot Superpole session, Bulega ran the show, and Race 1 proved no exception. While Lap 1 saw him only lead by a half a second, by Lap 4, P1 was practically decided, as Bulega had at that point put 4.846s between him and Razgatlioglu, a margin that would grow to its largest in Lap 14, up to 6.748s ahead of the defending champion.

BULEGA’S FIRST WORLD SUPERSPORT WIN: Australia, 2023, Race 1

Bulega’s success Down Under dates back to even before his WorldSBK debut win, the year prior, in 2023, Bulega distinguished himself with a similar win in his first ever WorldSSP race. While we now know it is a feat he would go on to not only repeat in his WorldSBK debut in 2024, but as well in 2025 with his first hat-trick. his 2023 win gave a first glint of the star power the Italian would go on to show. The race was a chaotic one, being restarted in its first lap after a crash involving Adrian Huertas, and Yari Montella, (Barni Spark Racing Team). After the restart, it was the Bulega show, with the Italian rider leading every lap from lights out to the chequered flag. His dominant win was the first step in his victorious WorldSSP Riders’ Championship-winning campaign.

VICTORIOUS DUEL WITH RAZGATLIOGLU: Jerez, 2024, Superpole Race

While Bulega’s 2024 season was by no means an unsuccessful affair, one issue that plagued him throughout was his ability to go head to head with Razgatlioglu; more through the Turk’s incredible run of form than anything else. While catching ‘El Turco’ on points looked like a long shot heading into the 2024 finale, the Superpole Race was an important moral victory for ‘Bulegas’. After losing P1 to Razgatlioglu on Lap 2, Bulega found himself in the familiar position of chasing Toprak. This time, instead of #54 being able to pull away, Bulega hung within 0.2s of him, eventually retaking the lead and not letting go in Lap 6, finishing the race with a considerable 2.375s lead.

ALL ITALIAN PODIUM ON HOME SOIL: Misano, 2023, Race 1

Misano’s Emilia-Romagna Round was a triumphant moment for Bulega in Race 1, not only topping an all-Emilia-Romagnol podium on Italian soil but winning a race in his home province of Emilia-Romagna. After regaining P1 after an early assault from Federico Caricasulo (Motozoo ME air Racing), Bulega regained P1 on Lap 2, and refused to let go until he saw the chequered flag. Bulega finished with a margin of 1.609s ahead of Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha).

CROWNED WORLDSSP CHAMPION: Portimao 2023, Race 1

Race 1 of 2023’s second-to-last Round saw Bulega clinch his first WorldSSP Riders’ Championship on points. With his win, he increased his margin over Stefano Manzi to 90 points, ruling out the possibility of any rider catching him. While Bulega only led the first six laps by an average margin of 0.257s, followed closely by Stefano Manzi and later Yari Montella, the latter two-thirds of the race saw Bulega seal the deal, increasing his average gap to 1.158s to wrap up the Championship with a round to spare, before the emotion started pouring out for the Italian star.

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