Nicolo Bulega fastest in WorldSBK test, warns of “things I’m not happy about”

Nicolo Bulega is chasing further improvements after the final preseason WorldSBK test of 2026, despite being fastest by 0.6 seconds.

Bulega was the only rider to lap in the 1m28s during the two-day Phillip Island World Superbike test, setting a 1m28.630 on day two, leaving him 0.666 seconds ahead of Sam Lowes in second place.

Go Eleven’s Lorenzo Baldassarri made it a Ducati 1-2-3 on the timesheets, but no one was close to Bulega, despite a mis-step on setup from the factory Ducati team in the afternoon.

“Honestly, not so bad,” Nicolo Bulega told WorldSBK.com at the end of the second day of the Phillip Island test.

“I feel good with the bike.

“We tried something different during the second session, but then we came back because when you have a good feeling, when you are riding well and you can push well with your bike, with your package, with this setting, then when you try to make something different it’s not always very good. 

“So, we decided at one moment to go back to keep my feeling of this morning, and then everything [went] well.”

The reason for the change that ultimately didn’t work for Bulega during Tuesday’s running was to fix some of the things he’s not happy about with the Panigale V4 R at the moment. This is something he hopes to continue working on on Friday once the race weekend itself gets underway.

“Just continuing like this,” Bulega said when asked what he wanted to work on during the weekend.

“Trying to improve because there are some things that I’m not so happy [about] with the bike. 

“So, I think if we can improve a couple of tenths it could be good.”

Ultimately, though, Bulega ended the first real dry test with the updated Panigale V4 R looking as imperious as expected after his strong 2025 season, and even the Italian couldn’t deny that it had been a good start for himself and Ducati.

“The most important is that I have a good feeling with the bike and that we are discovering some new areas with this bike that is new,” he said.

“So, we have a long work to do during this season but we started well.”