Bulega to MotoGP, what a gamble: why Alex Lowes didn’t expect it

Lowes spoke about Bulega’s MotoGP debut, also sharing a particular anecdote.

Nicolò Bulega’s 2025 was very intense, no doubt about it. The battle for the Superbike World Championship title with Toprak Razgatlioglu lasted until the final round at Jerez, and there was also an additional commitment that hadn’t been planned: MotoGP. Marc Marquez’s injury allowed him to debut in the premier class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing with the factory Ducati team.

Although the opportunity to race in MotoGP was tempting, he still set a condition for the Borgo Panigale manufacturer: to carry out a test with the Desmosedici GP25 before competing in race weekends. Once he got the green light from Gigi Dall’Igna, he rode at Jerez and then raced the Grands Prix in Portimao and Valencia, where he also took part in the final test. An experience useful for the future, given that in 2026 he will also be a Ducati MotoGP test rider and dreams of being on the top-class grid in 2027.

At the end of October, the Emilian rider took part in his first test with the Desmosedici GP25. An event also attended by Alex Lowes, his World Superbike colleague, who was then surprised to see him race in place of Marquez: "I was there at Jerez when he tried the bike," he told Crash.net. "I think he did about 20 laps; it was damp and the track wasn’t completely dry. I remember I was on the phone with my brother, who asked me: ‘Do you think he’ll race?’ I replied: ‘No, I don’t think so’, because I thought if he had one or two full days of testing he could give it a go, but going straight into the Portimao weekend with little time available, what can you really achieve?"

Bulega couldn’t do many laps in Andalusia, but his feelings were positive and pushed him to say yes to Ducati’s proposal to race in MotoGP. Lowes adds more details: "It was a two-day Michelin test that was heavily affected by rain. I imagine the plan was to dedicate one day to Superbike and one day to MotoGP. He spent three quarters of the day on his Superbike, then finished on the MotoGP bike. To me it seemed more like a ‘Congratulations on a great year, what do you think?’ That’s why it surprised me."

The Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team rider didn’t think Bulega would take the risk of debuting in MotoGP after a test of just a few laps: "He already has a tester role for next year," he explains, "and I thought he would use that to prove himself. But at the same time, why not? You never know how many chances you’ll get on a MotoGP bike. I think he’s a good rider, a fantastic rider, and that if he had a full year on the bike, he’d do an excellent job."

The two-time SBK vice world champion scored 2 points, 1 in the Portimao race and 1 in the Valencia race. But results weren’t a big target, given it was his debut on a prototype. It was important to learn and grow, and that’s what happened. Ducati were pleased with his work, which continued at the end of the season in the MotoGP test at Valencia. In 2026 he will serve as a test rider working towards 2027, when there will be new technical regulations and a new tire supplier (Pirelli). And he wants to be in the premier class then too, perhaps as the reigning SBK world champion.

His twin brother Sam’s past in Grand Prix racing in Moto2 and MotoGP is well known, with a very difficult year spent at Aprilia in 2017. But Alex Lowes also had the chance to race in the top class: it happened in 2016, when he was a Yamaha Superbike rider and was called to the other paddock to replace the injured Bradley Smith in the Tech3 Yamaha team.

After a test at Brno, he raced at Silverstone (3 points) and Misano (0), then at Aragon he injured his left foot during FP3 and couldn’t complete the weekend, having been declared unfit by the doctors. That remains his only experience in the premier class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing.