Nicolo Bulega was able to score points in his MotoGP debut at the Portuguese Grand Prix this weekend at Portimao.

The 2025 World Superbike runner-up, Nicolo Bulega, made his MotoGP debut at the Portuguese Grand Prix this weekend.

On Saturday, the Italian rider crashed out in the early laps of the Sprint Race, but he went on to finish his debut Grand Prix in the points as he finished in 15th place.

However, Bulega believes he could have done better as he made a mistake in the latter laps and lost ground to the riders ahead of him who were battling for 11th place.

"Yesterday, in the Sprint, I made a rookie mistake and only completed a few laps," Bulega said.

"The goal for today was therefore to finish the race and gain as much experience as possible, while trying to understand the bike better and the many areas that make it so different from the Panigale.

"The first laps I was very calm, just trying to warm the front tyre to understand how to brake. I repeated in my mind all the race, ‘don't brake like Superbike, don't brake like Superbike’.

"In the last six or seven laps, my pace wasn’t too bad; I was able to be quick and to close the gap to the riders ahead of me.

"But unfortunately, I made a mistake that cost me three or four seconds. I recovered and caught them again, but it was too late.

"Anyway, my best lap was two laps to go when the tyre was already finished.

"The important thing was to finish the race and bring this experience with me to Valencia, and all in all, it went well."