Between the track and the transfer market… Nicolò Bulega’s mind might be focussed on the Most round, but at the same time, his future is the talk of the town. At Barcelona, Valentino Rossi will discuss the matter with Ducati, and in the coming hours we’ll find out which direction VR46 decides to take to replace Di Giannantonio.
The fact is that at the end of FP2, Bulega is second after a minor hiccup in the afternoon due to a crash at Turn 1. No consequences for the Aruba rider, despite the mishap.
“Too bad about the crash, but nothing unusual happened,” he said. “I was pushing hard, and we’d tried something different on the front end of the bike. I tried to make the turn, knowing I was a bit wide, but I gave it a shot anyway. It didn’t work out, but I found the limit at Turn 1, which is helpful for better understanding the situation. It was a minor crash, but with fairly significant damage, so I had to return to the pits. We didn’t really do much evaluation in the afternoon, but we gathered good information for tomorrow. Now I need to have a strong FP3.”
We saw the marshals intervene; can you explain what they told you?
“This year there’s a new rule introduced by the FIM: when you crash, you have to wait for the marshals’ OK before you can get back on track. At first there was a lot of confusion, so I asked them if I could get back out or if I had to take the service road.”
Superbike aside, there’s a lot of talk in Barcelona about the rider market with Mir close to joining Gresini. Are you surprised?
“Nothing changes for me. I think Joan is a great rider, so if Gresini chose him, it would still be a good choice.”
Valentino is at Barcelona too…
“Yes, my manager is talking to Ducati to find the best solution for me. We’ll see; it’s still too early to say anything. My goal is to find a spot with Ducati in MotoGP. Ducati is working on it, and so is my manager, so I hope to be able to tell you something very soon.”
Let’s take a step back to the Mugello test with the 850: what were your impressions of the Pirelli tyres?
“Last year, when I did the wildcard races, the hardest part was adapting to the Michelins, because the tyres are very different. When I went back to Superbike, it took me two or three days to readjust to the Pirellis. This time, however, it was much easier, because I tested the MotoGP bike with Pirelli tyres. The tyres are still a bit different, because one is MotoGP and the other is Superbike, but the family is very similar.”
Were you surprised?
“When I did my first MotoGP tests, the feeling was very close to that of Superbike. And this morning, getting back on the Superbike, I immediately felt at ease. The main difference remains the bike, but above all, thanks to the tyres, there was no need for a major adjustment from one category to the other.”
What do you think of MotoGP without the aids? Is it easier to switch from Superbike to MotoGP?
“Yes, definitely. For those coming from Superbike or Moto2, it’s much simpler because you don’t have to constantly think about the electronics. When I tested the MotoGP bike in the past, it was hard for me to always remember to use them. But in last week’s Mugello test, it was great because I was riding a MotoGP bike but in a way it was very similar to a Superbike.”