Heading into the final Grand Prix weekend of the 2025 MotoGP season, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) is getting set to appear for the second time as a part of that paddock. In his debut last GP in Portimao, Bulega came out strong to start the weekend, finishing P14 and P13 in the Free Practices, before ultimately finishing in the points in P15 in the Grand Prix.

Bulega’s opportunity came as the 2025 World Champion Marc Marquez took a hard fall in the Indonesian GP several rounds ago. The #93 was forced to celebrate his seventh World Championship from home after being ruled unfit and requiring shoulder surgery, preventing him from participating in the rest of the 2025 season. After Ducati’s MotoGP Test rider replaced Marquez for the remaining flyaway rounds in Malaysia and Australia, Bulega was given the nod to take the incumbent Champion’s bike around the track in the final two rounds of the season.

LEARNING ON THE FLY: “I will try to understand a lot of things on Friday to try to put it all together on Saturday and Sunday”

Bulega is now getting locked and loaded for his second and final replacement appearance in the 2025 MotoGP season. With one Grand Prix under his belt, Bulega has shown his calibre at times, but the steep learning curve of the MotoGP paddock was evident. For example, after his Race 1 crash, Bulega said in an interview that it was his first time putting laps down on the hard front tyre. Certain lessons he’s had to learn the hard way, but those lessons will have taught him things which he will bring forward into Valencia, where he’s hoping for a step in terms of his results. Bulega will also be seeing a familiar face in the test event at the same venue on the following Tuesday. Toprak Razgatlioglu will be testing with his Prima Pramac Yamaha team to prepare him for next season, and Bulega looks forward to seeing his old rival once again.

On his upcoming weekend at the Valencian GP, “I’m looking forward to it; I have one weekend of experience now, so I hope I will start a bit better. I think a podium is still a bit too optimistic, but I feel like I learned a lot of things last week, so I hope to start better. It’s been four years since I came to race here. It’s a technical track, especially in MotoGP; it won’t be easy. But it’s what I have now, so I will try to understand a lot of things on Friday to try to put it all together on Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday, when I saw that he tested the MotoGP bike in Aragon, I realised that we will meet again here in the test next week in MotoGP, so it will be nice.”

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