Nicolo Bulega admits he is hungry for more wins after dominating the Australian WorldSBK weekend at Phillip Island.
Bulega entered the weekend as the favourite to take all three races and produced stellar performances to seal the hat trick of victories.
The treble saw Bulega move to 23 wins in WorldSBK, as he surpassed Max Biaggi to become the Italian rider with the most wins in the championship.
The Ducati rider admitted that while the record may be “nothing” to some, he is proud to take Biaggi’s record.
“I’m really happy,” he told WorldSBK.com.
“Especially to become the Italian with the most wins. Okay, it’s nothing, but it’s something.
“I’m really happy and I want to put more wins on my back.”
Bulega also revealed that Biaggi congratulated him on his strong start to the season and recognised he took his record.
“Biaggi sent me a message last night and told me he was watching me and that I had done a good job or something like that,” Bulega said.
“I said to him ‘thanks Max, I’m very happy but today I equalled you in terms of victories’ and he replied that he knew that.”
Nicolo Bulega ‘angry’ after rain-affected Sunday threatens Australian WorldSBK treble
However, despite his dominant weekend, it wasn’t as plain sailing as Bulega would have liked.
The Italian rider looked assured in both full-length races, but dropped to fourth at the start of the Superpole race before returning to the front.
Bulega admitted he “had to be very careful” due to the small amount of rain, but ultimately enjoyed his comeback ride.
“This morning the Superpole Race was a bit difficult because it started to rain a little bit, but we were with slick tyres so I had to be very careful,” Bulega said.
“But at the end I won and it was a very good race, I enjoyed it a lot.”
Bulega also revealed he was “angry” that the conditions changed drastically before the start of Race 2.
While both previous races saw the track in slick conditions, Race 2 was declared wet after a downpour at Phillip Island.
However, Bulega was able to challenge his negative thoughts into “good energy” and took his most dominant win of the weekend.
“Also today I was a bit angry before Race 2 because I knew that I had a very good feeling and was fast with a good pace in dry conditions,” Bulega admitted.
“I tried to put this anger into good energy to win also in wet conditions.”
“I started very well, I had a good feeling from the beginning, then it was difficult because after some laps the asphalt was a bit slippery.
“But, anyway, I managed to win another race and I’m really happy.”
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