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Nicolò Bulega's weekend in Portimao started well, with the quickest time set in the morning session and the second quickest with which he ended the day in the afternoon, behind Toprak Razgatlioglu who despite missing the entire morning proved to be the man to beat in Portugal.
"Fortunately, the sensations on my bike are much better than the test we did here," Bulega commented, "In general I am happy, because I feel better on the bike, but I think we are still far from Toprak. Maybe a little bit closer, if you look at our race pace it's not bad and I think by taking another small step forward we can really stay close to Toprak."
Do you expect a group race or do you fear Toprak may run a race apart?
"Last year's race was quite a group race, and I think it can be like that this year as well."
Toprak himself has talked about SBK looking like a Ducati Cup. What do you think about that?
"I think Ducati has a very good bike, but it doesn't go by itself, you always need someone to make it go to the limit. Toprak is certainly a very good rider, incredible and talented. He brought BMW back to success, so you just have to take your hat off to him for what he's doing. But not everyone can be so fast on a Ducati. We have a very good bike, in Australia I think there were also a special set of circumstances. That is my favorite track, the Panigale has always performed well there, even in the past. Here at Portimao already the story is different, although I did the tests I was not the fastest today. If Toprak wins all the races this weekend I will have to say it is a BMW Cup."
He has really shown that he can dominate. But do you think he is beatable?
"We already knew coming in here how fast Toprak is at Portimao. He has great confidence with the bike and the track. Beating him here would also be very important in view of the rest of the championship, because this is probably his favorite track. It will be difficult to stay with him, but I think we did a great job and improved a lot. At the moment I don't think it's really possible to fight with him, but if we could find the two tenths we're missing tomorrow, maybe it would be possible to at least stay with him. Beating him is another matter, but already being close to him would be important."
On the topic of tyres how do you feel, do you think you might have problems with wear?
"Tyres are always important, although this track is not so dramatic from this point of view, but the last laps it will be important to have tyres in good condition."
There is talk of a Toprak in MotoGP. Would you mind if he had to change paddocks?
"I honestly don't care much about Toprak's future. For me having him here is good because he is a very fast and talented rider, he can keep the level very high. Often when I am second, there is Toprak in front. He pushes me to improve, so I would like him to stay here rather than go to MotoGP. But if I am ahead of everyone I would say that is not a bad thing."
If he were to stay in SBK could he win as many consecutive titles as Rea in your opinion?
"Rea won six consecutive titles, but not because he had no rivals, but rather because he was the best. I think every historical period has a different story. When you win it's not because you have no rivals, it's just because you are the best."
