Bulega dominates to first win at Misano in Race 1

June 3, 2023

Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega took his sixth career win in Race 1 finishing 1.609s ahead of Manzi.

It was his first win in Misano in Supersport as he extended his Championship lead to 41 points. Stefano Manzi was second for Yamaha in Race 1, followed by Federico Caricasulo in third. Manzi remains second in the standings with 136 points while Caricasulo stands in fourth place with 114 points.

It was a historic FIM Supersport World Championship Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” during the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round as Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) extended his Championship lead with victory on home soil despite dropping back at the start of the race. He led an all-Italian podium at Misano as he claimed victory by almost two seconds for his sixth win of 2023 and his seventh podium in nine races.

Bulega had a poor start as the lights went out and initially lost out to Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) and Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) and he was then demoted to fourth when Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) came through on the Championship leader. However, in the next few laps, Bulega was able to re-take the lead before he started to pull out a gap on his rivals.

By the end of Lap 7, he had a gap of 1.7s as he looked to take his first WorldSSP victory in Italy and he was duly able to hold on to take his sixth win of the season on the Panigale V2 machine and extend his Championship lead over Schroetter with the German rider finishing in third place. His victory means he now has more wins for Ducati in WorldSSP than all the other Ducati winners combined.

The battle for second place turned into a three-way scrap with Schroetter running in second until Lap 8 before he was overtaken by Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), who started from tenth, at Turn 8 to demote the German to third. Two laps later, Schroetter found himself in fourth place after Caricasulo overtook him through Turns 9 and 10 to claim a podium on home soil, the fifth Italian podium lookout. Manzi and Caricasulo had a late-race battle with Caricasulo looking to overtake Manzi, but the Yamaha rider was able to hold on for his 10th podium in WorldSSP while Caricasulo scored his 31st.

Schroetter was able to stem his losses once Caricasulo came by and he spent the second half of the race in fourth place as he tried to stay in touch with Caricasulo ahead of him, as he finished around two seconds clear of Montella who dropped to fifth despite his impressive start. Wildcard Simone Corsi (Altogo Racing Team) took sixth place on home soil after he battled up from 11th place; the Italian rider had a three-place grid drop for irresponsible riding in Tissot Superpole.

WorldSSP action resumes on Sunday from 09:25 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Race 2 at 12:30.

WorldSSP Race 1 Results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team)
2. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +1.609s
3. Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) +1.184s
4. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +2.425s
5. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +6.685s
6. Simone Corsi (Altogo Racing Team) +9.838s

WorldSSP Championship standings
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) 177 points
2. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) 136 points
3. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 132 points

P1 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team
“I’m very happy because I had never won in Italy, and today I took my first win here at home, so I’m very happy about that. Thanks to my team because my bike was working really well, and I could ride very well.
I didn’t expect to be so fast because before qualifying, I expected to be in the 1’36.7s or 1’36.8s range, but when I saw 1’36.4s, it was incredible. I’m happy; it’s a good moment for me, and I want to continue like this. I’m happy for myself, for my team, and for all the Italian fans. We will try again tomorrow.”