Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) has his work cut out for him in the nine remaining races of the 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign. His title adversary, Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) flexed his fluency on the French Round’s Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours tarmac as he landed his fourth consecutive hat trick. Bulega now has to mount his comeback from 39 points down in the Riders’ Championship across the remaining nine races.

BULEGA: It’s frustrating. It’s not easy because we started out trying to win the title, or at least fight for the title, but at the moment it’s not possible to fight with them.”

Razgatlioglu’s title defence looked shoddy at best in the opening round of the season back in February at Phillip Island. The #1’s P2, P13 and DNF to close the weekend down under spelt his worst-ever weekend atop BMW machinery; meanwhile, Bulega was the rider untouchable at the front of the pack, winning races by margins greater than five seconds, similar to the form we now see Razgatlioglu in. The tables have turned since the BMW outfit has come to understand their bike better, but with nine races left to ride, the Italian is still close enough to pull off late heroics.

On his frustrations with seeing the rear tyre of the #1’s bike, Bulega said: “Honestly, every weekend is like this, I try to get the maximum out of my bike, and this weekend this was the maximum. What can I say? We always try to improve, but at the moment, we're not. It’s difficult. It’s frustrating for sure, it's not easy because we started this Championship trying to win the title, or at least fight for the title, but at the moment it’s not possible to fight with them because BMW and Toprak have found something. They are much faster than at the start of the season, and now that we are using 100% of our package, it’s difficult to try to stay with them.”

RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS: “We need to think about how we can improve. We’ve tried many things, but it hasn’t been possible”

On one hand, Bulega has seen his lead slowly chipped out from under him, as Toprak has frequently beaten him to P1. On the other hand, recent rounds like Donington Park and Magny-Cours are tracks that the #1 regularly dominates at, so Bulega’s P2 consistency was the best-case scenario for damage control outside of beating Razgatlioglu outright. With that being the case, upcoming rounds like Estoril and Aragon are tracks that play more into the mechanics of the #11’s Ducati Panigale V4 R, so if Bulega can seize his chances and consistently win races. If Toprak suffers some bad luck, Bulega could find himself right back in the thick of the sauce.

On his hopes for the remaining rounds, such as the proximal Tissot Aragon Round, Bulega said: “I will try until the last race, but at the moment, before we think about trying to win races, we need to think about how we can improve. We’ve tried many things, but it hasn’t been possible. We will never give up, but we need something.”

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