The World Superbike season begins next week in Australia, and Álvaro Bautista is aiming for his third title. The competition is expected to be tough, including opponents seeking success with new teams – Jonathan Rea at Pata Yamaha and Toprak Razgatlioglu at ROKiT BMW.
Nicolò Bulega makes his debut in the category after being champion in the World Supersport, joining the official Ducati team alongside Bautista. And the Spaniard is aware that his teammate will be a strong adversary, as he told Crash.net:
– In fact, I remember last year when many journalists asked me about the rivals – Toprak to BMW and Jonathan switching to Yamaha – but no one asked me but I always said Nicolò. I said be careful because Nicolò is a really good rider, very young and a very talented rider. […]. I put him as one of the names fighting for the championship. For me it is not a surprise. I expect him to be fighting from the first race even if he is a rookie rider, I think he can fight for the title in his first year.
It is worth noting that Bulega has already made a good impression in preseason testing, consistently being one of the fastest riders both in Jerez and Portimão.