Phillip Island test 2: Bulega already pulling away—who can catch him now?

Nicolò Bulega is already on the run: one dominating Monday was enough to make him a strong favorite to repeat last year’s triple on the magical rollercoaster of Phillip Island.

The Ducati rider demolished the competition in both Monday sessions. Forceful in the two morning hours, even more on form in the afternoon stint, despite the sudden rise in air (25°C) and asphalt (39°C) temperatures. This is the kind of day Ducati dreamed of to gain more technical certainty about the new Panigale V4 R, after bad weather wrecked the two testing rounds scheduled last month between Jerez and Portimão. Clarification: over these two days of testing only two types of standard front and rear tires are available. So no evolutions, and certainly no qualifying rubber.

We’re at the dawn of the World Championship and, as we know, preseason form should always be taken with a grain of salt. Also, here in Australia Bulega rides as if he were in his own backyard: precise, lightning-fast, relentless. But in the absence of rival Toprak Razgatlioglu, it’s fair to ask already: will anyone be able to put some spice on Nicolò’s tail, or are we destined to experience a Superbike season without the pathos of fairing-to-fairing duels?

While we wait for a clearer picture of Ducati’s pursuers, the day gifts us the Axel Bassani we always want to see. The Venetian rider was rock-solid in both sessions, with a Bimota powered by Kawasaki that seems ready to take another step forward after the ’25 apprenticeship. Bassani ended last season with morale in the gutter, but on this sunny Australian afternoon he came back to life: just two tenths off Bulega’s benchmark, better than teammate Alex Lowes (fifth-fastest) who has always thrived here.

To grasp how fast Nicolò Bulega is going, just look at the performance of his new garage mate, Iker Lecuona. We’re talking about a former MotoGP rider, not a newcomer: twelfth, 1.2 seconds off the flying #11. But it’s far too early to judge the Spaniard: this was his first sunny day since he got on the Panigale, after years of hardship at Honda. With the same Ducati, the satellite riders are already very fast too: Sam Lowes (Marc VDS) climbed to third on the day, despite a crash. Impressive sixth time for Lorenzo Baldassarri on his debut with Go Eleven. The Romagnolo went quicker than Alvaro Bautista, the only one on track carrying six kilos of ballast (one crash in the day’s tally), and Yari Montella.

It’s early to draw conclusions, but for now Ducati and Bimota have blasted out of the blocks, with the rest chasing. The new version of the Kawasaki Ninja is immediately approved, with the brilliant Garrett Gerloff setting the fourth-fastest time, six tenths off the escapee. An encouraging first day for Honda as well, which shot former Moto2 rider Jake Dixon up to ninth, just over a second off the best Ducati. A Monday of work-in-progress for both Yamaha (best is Xavi Vierge, tenth) and BMW: Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci are currently outside the top ten, 1.2 seconds adrift. Tomorrow is another day.