# Nicolò Bulega

Nicolò Jarod Bulega (born 16 October 1999) is an Italian motorcycle racer, competing in the Superbike World Championship for the Ducati factory team, having won the 2023 Supersport World Championship with Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team by Feel Racing. He has also been a competitor in the CEV Moto3 Championship in 2014 and 2015, becoming Moto3 Junior World Champion in 2015. Prior to competing in the CEV, Bulega won the Italian and European MiniGP 50 championships, and was Italian champion in the PreGP 125 and PreGP 250 classes.
He is the son of former Grand Prix motorcycle racer, Davide Bulega.

## Career
### Early career

Born in Montecchio Emilia, Bulega started his career aged 8 in the Italian Minimoto Championship. In 2010 he made his debut in MiniGP 50, in both the Italian and European championships, winning both in 2011. In 2012 he won the Italian Championship 125 PreGP and the following year he won the Italian Championship Pre GP 250. As a result, he moved into the CEV Moto3 Championship for the 2014 season, he finished 6th overall in his rookie season with two podium finishes.
He also won the 2015 FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship.

### Moto3 World Championship
#### Sky Racing Team VR46 (2015–2018)
##### 2015

In 2015, Bulega made his Grand Prix debut with Sky Racing Team VR46 riding a KTM in the Valencian Grand Prix, and finished the race in twelfth place, scoring four points.

##### 2016

In 2016, Bulega started competing full-time in the Moto3 World Championship with Sky Racing Team VR46. He started the 2016 season with a sixth place at Qatar. At his fifth race in Moto3, Bulega achieved his first Grand Prix podium at Jerez with 2nd-place finish having started from pole position, which was his first pole position in Grand Prix racing. Bulega's first fastest lap came at the British Grand Prix in the last lap. Followed by a crash in Aragon, on his birthday Bulega finished the Japanese grand Prix at fourth place, and again set the fastest lap. However, after the third place holder Hiroki Ono was disqualified, Bulega was awarded third place. Both in Australia and Malaysia, Bulega crashed in the opening lap. Despite qualifying 4th, Bulega started the final race at Valencia in 16th place due to a 12 place grid penalty, and finished the race at 17th, thus losing the 'Rookie of the year' title to Joan Mir. Bulega finished the championship in 7th place with 129 points.

##### 2017

In a year where former Rookie of the Year rival Joan Mir won the 2017 Moto3 World Championship, Bulega struggled to replicate his debut season. His difficulties included bad qualifying strategies and bad starts (mainly due to his height), and his best results of the year were a 4th place on Germany, one of the few times he was able to qualify on the top 6, and two 5th places, in his "home" race in Rimini, and in the USA. He finished the disappointing season in 12th place, with 81 points.

##### 2018

Bulega's 2018 season was even worse than 2017. He retired in the first four races, and finished the fifth race, only 17th in Spain, being one of the two regular drivers to not score points in the first five races of the year. His only top 10 finish came in Thailand, where he finished 7th. He ended the season with mere 18 points, and 26th in the standings.

### Moto2 World Championship
#### Sky Racing Team VR46 (2019)
##### 2019

For the 2019 Moto2 World Championship, despite his poor results, and mainly due to his height and weight on smaller bikes, Bulega was given an opportunity in Moto2 by Sky Racing Team VR46, partnering Luca Marini. He performed somewhat better, with 4 top-10 finishes in the Spanish, French, Czech, and Thai Grand Prixs, but finished 17th in the standings with 48 points. Marini ended in 6th, with 190 points, and 4 podiums (two victories), and Sky VR46 decided not to keep Bulega for a second season.

#### Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 (2020–2021)
##### 2020

In the 2020 Moto2 World Championship, Bulega was partnered by Edgar Pons at Gresini. Bulega once again had a bad year, only finishing in the top 10 twice, ending the season 20th in the standings, with 32 points. Luckily for him, Pons had an even worse season, finishing with points in just two races.

##### 2021

For the 2021 season, Bulega's teammate was Fabio Di Giannantonio. Di Giannantonio finished on the podium three times, winning a race in Jerez, while Bulega only finished in a point scoring position three times throughout the season. His 12 points of the season were Bulega's lowest ever of a full season in his career, and due to his bad performance, Gresini elected not to keep him for the 2022 season.

### Supersport World Championship

On September 22, 2021, it was announced that Bulega would join Aruba.it Racing for their first season of the 2022 Supersport World Championship. Finishing in fourth place in the standings at the end of his first season in this category.
On Saturday, 30 September 2023 he was crowned the 2023 World Champion with three races to spare after taking 14 wins and 18 podiums up to and including Race 1 at the Portuguese Round. His future was secure after he was announced as Alvaro Bautista's 2024 teammate at the factory Ducati squad in WorldSBK.

## Career statistics
### FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship
#### Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos | Pts |
| 2014 | KTM | JER1 16 | JER2 7 | LMS 13 | ARA 7 | CAT1 16 | CAT2 10 | ALB 6 | NAV 3 | ALG 2 | VAL1 4 | VAL2 7 | | 6th | 95 |
| 2015 | KTM | ALG 3 | LMS 6 | CAT1 3 | CAT2 4 | ARA1 7 | ARA2 5 | ALB 2 | NAV 2 | JER1 2 | JER2 1 | VAL1 4 | VAL2 3 | 1st | 189 |

### Grand Prix motorcycle racing
#### By season

| Season | Class | Motorcycle | Team | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd |
| 2015 | Moto3 | KTM | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 31st |
| 2016 | Moto3 | KTM | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 129 | 7th |
| 2017 | Moto3 | KTM | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 81 | 12th |
| 2018 | Moto3 | KTM | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 26th |
| 2019 | Moto2 | Kalex | Sky Racing Team VR46 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 17th |
| 2020 | Moto2 | Kalex | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 20th |
| 2021 | Moto2 | Kalex | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 26th |
| Total | | | | 99 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 324 | |

#### By class

| Class | Seasons | 1st GP | 1st Pod | 1st Win | Race | Win | Podiums | Pole | FLap | Pts | WChmp |
| Moto3 | 2015–2018 | 2015 Valencia | 2016 Spain | | 50 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 232 | 0 |
| Moto2 | 2019–2021 | 2019 Qatar | | | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 92 | 0 |
| Total | 2015–2021 | 2015–2021 | 2015–2021 | 2015–2021 | 99 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 324 | 0 |

#### Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Class | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Pos | Pts |
| 2015 | Moto3 | KTM | QAT | AME | ARG | SPA | FRA | ITA | CAT | NED | GER | IND | CZE | GBR | RSM | ARA | JPN | AUS | MAL | VAL 12 | | 31st | 4 |
| 2016 | Moto3 | KTM | QAT 6 | ARG 18 | AME 10 | SPA 2 | FRA 5 | ITA 8 | CAT 5 | NED 7 | GER Ret | AUT 9 | CZE 9 | GBR 5 | RSM 4 | ARA Ret | JPN 3 | AUS Ret | MAL Ret | VAL 17 | | 7th | 129 |
| 2017 | Moto3 | KTM | QAT 14 | ARG 16 | AME 5 | SPA 7 | FRA 17 | ITA 10 | CAT 9 | NED 10 | GER 4 | CZE 23 | AUT 11 | GBR 20 | RSM 5 | ARA 14 | JPN 12 | AUS 11 | MAL Ret | VAL DNS | | 12th | 81 |
| 2018 | Moto3 | KTM | QAT Ret | ARG Ret | AME Ret | SPA 17 | FRA Ret | ITA 21 | CAT Ret | NED 11 | GER 14 | CZE 19 | AUT 23 | GBR C | RSM Ret | ARA 14 | THA 7 | JPN | AUS | MAL | VAL | 26th | 18 |
| 2019 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT Ret | ARG Ret | AME | SPA 9 | FRA 10 | ITA Ret | CAT 13 | NED Ret | GER 18 | CZE 7 | AUT 13 | GBR 20 | RSM Ret | ARA 12 | THA 8 | JPN Ret | AUS 12 | MAL 12 | VAL 22 | 17th | 48 |
| 2020 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT 18 | SPA 14 | ANC 12 | CZE 14 | AUT 16 | STY 13 | RSM 15 | EMI 11 | CAT Ret | FRA Ret | ARA 18 | TER 17 | EUR 8 | VAL 9 | POR Ret | | | | | 20th | 32 |
| 2021 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT 22 | DOH 17 | POR Ret | SPA Ret | FRA 11 | ITA DNS | CAT 17 | GER 11 | NED 19 | STY 22 | AUT 22 | GBR 14 | ARA Ret | RSM 17 | AME DNS | EMI 18 | ALR 22 | VAL 24 | | 26th | 12 |

### Supersport World Championship
#### Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Pos | Pts |
| 2022 | Ducati | SPA 5 | SPA 3 | NED 3 | NED 4 | POR 3 | POR Ret | ITA 3 | ITA 3 | GBR Ret | GBR 3 | CZE 9 | CZE 2 | FRA 11 | FRA 3 | SPA Ret | SPA 14 | POR 15 | POR 10 | ARG 11 | ARG 8 | INA 6 | INA 6 | AUS 2 | AUS 4 | 4th | 242 |
| 2023 | Ducati | AUS 1 | AUS 1 | INA 5 | INA 3 | NED 1 | NED 1 | SPA 1 | SPA Ret | ITA 1 | ITA 2 | GBR 1 | GBR 1 | ITA 3 | ITA 2 | CZE 1 | CZE 16 | FRA 1 | FRA 1 | SPA 1 | SPA 1 | POR 1 | POR 2 | SPA 1 | SPA 1 | 1st | 503 |

### Superbike World Championship
#### By season

| Season | Motorcycle | Team | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd |
| 2024 | Ducati Panigale V4 R | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | 36 | 6 | 24 | 8 | 11 | 484 | 2nd |
| 2025 | Ducati Panigale V4 R | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 62* | 1st* |
| Total | Total | Total | 39 | 9 | 27 | 10 | 13 | 546 | |

#### Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Bike | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | Pos | Pts |
| Year | Bike | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | R1 | SR | R2 | Pos | Pts |
| 2024 | Ducati | AUS 1 | AUS 5 | AUS 5 | SPA 2 | SPA 4 | SPA 2 | NED 11 | NED 2 | NED 8 | EMI 2 | EMI 2 | EMI 2 | GBR 4 | GBR 2 | GBR 2 | CZE 6 | CZE 2 | CZE 2 | POR 7 | POR 5 | POR 2 | FRA Ret | FRA 1 | FRA 1 | ITA 2 | ITA 4 | ITA 3 | SPA Ret | SPA 3 | SPA 3 | EST 2 | EST 1 | EST 2 | SPA 1 | SPA 1 | SPA 2 | 2nd | 484 |
| 2025 | Ducati | AUS 1 | AUS 1 | AUS 1 | POR | POR | POR | NED | NED | NED | ITA | ITA | ITA | CZE | CZE | CZE | EMI | EMI | EMI | GBR | GBR | GBR | HUN | HUN | HUN | FRA | FRA | FRA | ARA | ARA | ARA | POR | POR | POR | SPA | SPA | SPA | 1st* | 62* |
* Season still in progress.