Nicolo Bulega pleased with Magny-Cours Superbike adaptation: “I already started well”

Nicolo Bulega’s WorldSBK rookie season continued in its impressive fashion on Friday at Magny-Cours, the reigning Supersport World Champion finishing second-fastest in FP2 in France.

It was a better start at Magny-Cours, where he hadn’t ridden a Superbike before this weekend, than in other circuits he was learning on a Superbike for the first time on a race weekend.

“I feel good because honestly sometimes on my first day at a new track with this bike it is a bit difficult,” Bulega told WorldSBK.com, “like at Most and Donington where I was struggling a little bit more on the first day. Then step-by-step I was getting faster.

“Today I already started well, because I felt good on the bike from the first laps. So I’m happy and I’ll try to improve again tomorrow.”

The strong start means that Bulega, who currently sits seventh in the riders’ standings after seven rounds, is targeting the podium from the first race this weekend.

“I always try to do my best when I jump on the bike and I go at my maximum so I will try to do the same as I’ve done all year,” he said. “I’ll try to fight for the podium if I can.”

With Toprak Razgatlioglu, who holds a 92-point lead coming into the French Round, out of action this weekend after suffering a collapsed lung in an FP2 crash, Magny-Cours suddenly presents Bulega with a perhaps unexpected opportunity to reduce his championship points deficit.