Double wins for Bulega and Ducati at Assen

April 23, 2023

Nicolo Bulega claimed his second consecutive victory at the Pirelli Dutch Round, his second double of the season.

The Italian rider leaves the Netherlands with 127points and a 37-point advantage in the standings. After a hard fight with Caricasulo, Stefano Manzi equaled his best results of the season taking second place in Race 2. He stands in second place in the Championship standings with 90 points. Federico Caricasulo claimed third place after battling with Manzi claiming his third podium finish of 2023. After 6 races, he is fourth in the Championship standings, 50 points behind the leader.

The FIM Supersport World Championship’s visit to the TT Circuit Assen for the Pirelli Dutch Round concluded with a thrilling Race 2 which was won by Nicolo Bulega (Aaruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) as he continued his strong start to the 2023 campaign, while there was an incredible fight for the podium behind Bulega as he took his fourth win in six races this season. Home team Ten Kate Racing Yamaha were able to celebrate a home podium with Stefano Manzi taking second place in the Netherlands.

Bulega has been the only repeat winner in 2023 so far and he continued that record as he claimed victory in Race 2 at Assen. He initially fell behind Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) on the opening lap but he responded at the final chicane to re-claim the lead of the race and, from there, he was able to take advantage of the squabbling behind him to build a gap of more than three seconds.

It meant the podium fight ended up being between Caricasulo, Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and Schroetter, with Manzi and Caricasulo fighting hard for second place. On Lap 16, the pair went side by side into the final chicane before Manzi opened up a gap to Caricasulo with rookie Schroetter fighting back to close the gap on the podium places. Despite Caricasulo and Schroetter fighting hard, Manzi was able to hold on by just 0.086s for second place, with Caricasulo in third.

Schroetter backed up his maiden podium from Race 1 with fourth place in Race 2, finishing just half-a-second away from Caricasulo on the podium. The German rookie had a more than five second margin to the riders fighting hard behind him as Niki Tuuli (Dynavolt Triumph) and Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) battled it out for fifth place throughout the second half of the race. Finnish rider Tuuli was able to hold on to fifth on his Triumph machine with Debise ending a strong weekend in sixth place.

WorldSSP Race 2 Results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team)
2. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +4.437s
3. Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) +4.523s
4. Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) +5.088s
5. Niki Tuuli (Dynavolt Triumph) +10.864s
6. Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) +11.068s

WorldSSP Championship standings
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) 127 points
2. Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) 90 points
3. Marcel Schroetter MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 79 points

P1 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba Racing WorldSSP Team
“It’s an incredible weekend. To do better than this is impossible! I want to thank the team because the bike was incredible all the weekend. I really enjoyed riding my bike all the weekend. It’s an incredible track. I love Assen. It was a bit of a lonely race, but I had to stay very focused because it’s very easy to make a mistake in this situation. When you are alone, you have to stay focus on yourself and your bike, and it’s difficult. I’m happy because we didn’t do any mistakes. I want to enjoy this moment but also to stay focus because the Championship is still very long, I want to continue this way and try to be fast at every race.”