After finishing second in all three races at Donington Park, Nicolo Bulega has lost the lead of the World Superbike Championship.
For the first time in the 2025 World Superbike Championship, Nicolo Bulega has walked away from a race weekend not in the lead of the standings.
The Italian rider has had the upper hand over Toprak Razgatlioglu all season, but after the seventh round, he has slipped back to second place.
However, he is still satisfied with three second-place finishes as he expected this weekend to be difficult.
"We knew before coming here that it could be a difficult weekend," Bulega told WorldSBK.com.
"Toprak Razgatlioglu is very strong here, well, he is strong everywhere, but here especially. So, we knew that it could be a difficult weekend.
"Honestly, it was a difficult weekend, but it was not so bad. Because three second positions are good, we got good points for the Championship.
"The season is still long, I think we have some circuits left that I like more, and I hope to be more competitive."
After losing to Razgatlioglu in all three races at Donington Park, Bulega explained that the Ducati was struggling 'everywhere' when compared to Razgatlioglu and the BMW.
"A little bit everywhere, it was not a single points," Bulega explained.
"But especially in the slow corners and the acceleration, we were struggling a little bit. We need some more grip after the first touch of the throttle.
"So, we have to work more in this way."
In the final race of the weekend, Bulega could not keep up with his title rival, but also found himself defending against his teammate, Alvaro Bautista.
After taking the gamble with the soft tyre in Race Two, Bulega was struggling in the latter laps but was able to hold off the two-time World Superbike Champion.
"I had the softer tyre," he stated.
"Yesterday, I used the harder tyre, so today I put in the SCX, and at the end, Alvaro was very, very strong.
"In the first part of the race, it was difficult to catch up to Toprak, then in the second half of the race, it was difficult to hold off Alvaro.
"The last lap I could hear his engine behind me, so I tried to close the door at the final corners."
