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The first World Superbike round of the year was all under the sign of Nicolò Bulega. Extremely fast since the winter tests, the 2024 World Championship runner-up did not give his rivals any leeway at all throughout the weekend, smashing the Phillip Island track with a nearly perfect weekend.
"It could have been better because I didn't set the fastest lap," joked the Emilian rider, aware that it would be impossible to start the year in a better way than this: "Yes, sportingly speaking, it's probably the best week of my life. It's true that the tests don't mean anything, but they charge you up for the race weekend. I came here with a lot of positivity, I knew I could do well, and we concretized every last meter this week. I am very happy. We did a great job, our bike was going very well here, but I don't expect that we will always go like this in the next tracks as well: difficulties will definitely come, but in the meantime we will take this one and bring it home."
The feeling between Nicolò and the Phillip Island track was incredible, to the point that the Ducati rider would not disdain a tailor-made calendar.
"I also said on the podium that I would like to race every week in Australia. Too long a plane ride to come here? If I go like this, I would also go back and forth two or three times, then I run the race, and then I go back and forth two or three more times. Or I move here!" joked the 25-year-old, visibly happy and satisfied with this splendid weekend.
Three wins that allowed him to already take a certain margin in the standings and already put 42 lengths between himself and the defending champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu, who did not take a single point today.
"What should I say? I knew I had all the makings of a weekend like this, but then to do it is not easy. In the race there are always a lot of variables that can happen," Bulega remarked, "This morning, for example, I didn't even realize when Toprak passed between me and Iannone, I saw after the video, but there it was okay because I went long in that corner and braked a little bit later. That mistake saved me, because Toprak would have caught me if I had braked normally. In the end, it takes luck. You need everything to turn the right way and then you also need speed. We had that and so it was a good weekend."
It was Bulegas' first Superbike hat trick. "I dedicate it to all the people who have always been there for me in difficult times," said the winner, who was then questioned as to whether he seemed calmer this weekend than the people by his side.
"You can tell they don't trust me! - he commented with a laugh - I have a closed character, so maybe I don't even show it that much, however, I was calm because I knew I was fast. Then, as I said, two hundred thousand things can happen in races that you have nothing to do with. Like what happened yesterday to Iannone who was not OK with the tires and had a technical problem. You always think about these things, even when everything is going well."
Winning on repeat, after all, has taken some of the pressure off Nicolò's shoulders. "Maybe the pressure has decreased a little bit between races, because I knew I had the potential to repeat the result and that allowed me to be a little bit looser race after race," he said.
Although never in question, the success in Race 2 still came by a smaller margin than in Race 1. In fact, the Ducati rider arrived at the tire change with a lead of 2 seconds, compared to 6 seconds on Saturday.
"Yesterday there was no Iannone, who has been the closest rider to me all week. I knew I would have to push with him throughout the race, because I knew he had a better pace than the others and that he would not let me down. Especially with fresh tires," noted Nicolò, who concluded by explaining why he was not the first to stop today to change tires: "Today I used the SC1 on the front, so I wanted to break the race into two 10-lap heats. Yesterday, on the other hand, I had the SC2 because it was very hot and with the hard tire I could also do a few more laps."
