Nicolo Bulega ends “one of the most difficult weekends of my life” with a podium

Ending Race 2 of a WorldSBK weekend in a battle with Toprak Razgatlioglu is a position most of the Turkish rider's rivals could only dream of for most of the summer, but Nicolo Bulega ended his weekend at Portimao in such a position.

In the final race of the weekend, Bulega finished just 0.035 seconds shy of Razgatlioglu, who won all three races for the fourth round in succession.

“Unfortunately, I lost the battle with Toprak for nothing," Bulega told WorldSBK.com, "but it was my first time here with the Superbike so I’m happy. It’s always nice to be on the podium.”

Bulega had thought that victory was possible against Razgatlioglu, but found his options for overtaking limited.

“I knew that Toprak was very fast,” Bulega said, “but the last laps I was not too much slower. Two or three laps to go I see the possibility to win, so I try to not lose [too much time] to him. I know that it was very difficult to overtake him because he brakes very hard, and the BMW is fast, so it was difficult to overtake him.

“I tried in the only point where I was faster, the last corner, but it was too late.”

Despite the positive ending, on the podium in second place, it had been a complicated weekend for Bulega from the beginning. “One of the most difficult weekends of my life because from Friday I didn’t feel very good,” the Italian said.

A combination of physical problems and a bike issue in the opening 10 minutes of FP1 set the Italian off on the back foot in Portimao.

“It’s a difficult weekend because I miss FP1 for a technical problem, and also I start the weekend very sick,” said Bulega. “I was at 60 per cent, I was very bad all the weekend. So thanks also to the doctors that follow me all the weekend, to my team, to myself, because it was one of the most difficult weekends of my life.”

Bulega is now 92 points behind Razgatlioglu in the championship, himself sitting in second place, ahead of the next round at Magny-Cours, a circuit where he won twice in Supersport last year.

Looking ahead to the French Round, Bulega said: "It will be difficult because Magny-Cours is a technical track, but I like it. Last year, in Supersport, I won both races, but like always this year will be different, but I will try to do my best."