{"id":322857,"date":"2025-12-02T13:56:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T13:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/322857\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T13:56:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T13:56:11","slug":"nicolo-bulega-850cc-motogp-testing-best-opportunity-in-busy-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/322857\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicolo Bulega: 850cc MotoGP testing \u201cbest opportunity\u201d in \u201cbusy\u201d 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WorldSBK title rivals for the past two seasons, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega\u2019s careers will diverge in 2026 &#8211; but the pair could cross paths again during MotoGP\u2019s new 850cc and Pirelli era.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/wsbk\/racer\/995265\/toprak-razgatlioglu\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Razgatlioglu<\/a> beginning a two-year stint at Pramac Yamaha, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/wsbk\/racer\/1043899\/nicolo-bulega\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bulega<\/a> will combine another World Superbike title challenge with a new MotoGP testing role for Ducati.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian, who scored a point in both of his end-of-season MotoGP outings as Marc Marquez\u2019s replacement on the 1000cc Michelin-shod Desmosedici, is expected to make his 850cc debut around June.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will be busy next year, because Superbike and then as a MotoGP test rider with the new [2027] regulations bike,\u201d Bulega said during his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MotoGP<\/a> appearances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut when I started to talk with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/teams\/ducati-lenovo-team\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ducati <\/a>about my next contract, one of my biggest questions was if I can start to ride the MotoGP.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe talked together and we think that [850cc testing] was the best opportunity for me because I really like Pirelli tyres in Superbike.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy riding style is good for the Pirelli. So when I heard that Pirelli was coming to MotoGP, my idea to come back to MotoGP was even stronger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy manager and Gigi started to talk about this. And also Gigi, I think, believes I can be good for next year&#8217;s [850cc] bike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bulega, runner-up to Razgatlioglu in both of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/wsbk\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WorldSBK <\/a>campaigns, now becomes the clear favourite for the 2026 title.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, he backs \u201cincredible talent\u201d Razgatlioglu to adapt his riding style to the current premier-class machine.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToprak&#8217;s a good guy. I think he will have to adapt a lot next year because he&#8217;s incredible in braking,\u201d Bulega said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNormally, in Superbike, the Pirelli front tyre is incredible and gives you a lot of good feeling, also with lean angle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn MotoGP you have to ride a little bit different, but he has an incredible talent so I think he can adapt very well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pirelli and Michelin will effectively swap roles in 2027 with Michelin becoming sole tyre supplier to WorldSBK.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WorldSBK title rivals for the past two seasons, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega\u2019s careers will diverge in 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,17197,8456,806,805,803,804,6909,7188,85,23899],"class_list":{"0":"post-322857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ducati","11":"tag-ducati-lenovo-team","12":"tag-motor","13":"tag-motor-sports","14":"tag-motosport","15":"tag-motosports","16":"tag-nicolo-bulega","17":"tag-prima-pramac-yamaha","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-toprak-razgatlioglu"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}