Nicolo Bulega “more comfortable on the bike, we are in a good way”

Nicolo Bulega believes he will be more competitive at his home WorldSBK round, after a positive test at Misano.

Although Bulega was very fast at times in Assen, Bulega didn’t have the pace of team-mate Alvaro Bautista or Toprak Razgatlioglu.

But the WorldSBK rookie was impressive at the recent two-day Misano test, finishing second on day-one before closing out the test in third.

“I’m happy with this test because we improved my feeling,” said Bulega. “I’m still not 100% but better than day-one.

“We tried something different that I liked and we took a good direction.

“Not bad because today we focused on finding different setups on the bike. I feel more comfortable on the bike.

“We just need to work on it and improve my feeling. The feeling is not better on the bike, but my position on the bike, yes.

“I think we can start to work from this position in order to improve my feeling. I think we are in a good way. it will be special, being Italian on an Italian bike. It will be nice.”

Another factory rider who was strong at times during the two-day test was Michael Van Der Mark, although the Dutchman was unable to get on terms with Razgatlioglu who was fastest on both days.

Speaking about the test, Van Der Mark added: “We had some clear things to try. Every time we wanted to try something this morning, it started raining or drizzling. It was a long day.

“You want to work and improve, try different things, and I didn’t really get the time to.

“At the end of the day, we had two dry hours but it’s never enough. It’s always useful to ride together [with Razgatlioglu], you can always learn and improve.

“We want to improve this package so sometimes you have to ride together.”