No sooner had he set the Superbike record than Bulega was already in the car—the overnight drive from Lake Balaton to Mugello took him straight to the new Ducati 850
Nicolo Bulega had little time to celebrate his triple victory at the Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary. With 16 consecutive race wins, the Ducati rider has set a new record in the Superbike World Championship, surpassing Toprak Razgatlioglu (13 wins).
Originally, Bulega was scheduled to test the new 850cc MotoGP Ducati for the first time on Tuesday (May 5) in Mugello, Italy, in preparation for the new 2027 regulations.
Due to an unfavorable weather forecast for Tuesday, the test was moved up to Monday. Bulega therefore had to set off by car from Hungary to Italy late Sunday afternoon.
The route through Slovenia is about 850 kilometers. Bulega arrived at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany early Monday morning. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old was able to take to the track on Monday.
Honda had rented the racetrack for private test runs. However, Honda did not ride the new 2027 prototype this time. KTM was also on the track with test riders Dani Pedrosa and Jonas Folger.
Folger will return to MotoGP racing this coming weekend. The German will replace Maverick Viñales at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans, as Viñales is still recovering from shoulder surgery.
There is no official information available regarding this private test at Mugello. Amid negotiations between the manufacturers and promoter MSEG, Ducati has imposed a “news blackout” on all updates related to 2027.
That is why neither Marc Marquez’s contract extension nor the signing of Pedro Acosta—which is already a done deal—has been announced.
Likewise, there is no information regarding the development status of the new 850cc GP27 prototype under the new technical regulations for the upcoming season.
The only one to leak any images is test rider Michele Pirro in a video on his social media channels. This happened even though the Italian had only gotten on the bike on Tuesday and was initially able to complete just a few laps in the rain.
Our Italian colleagues at GPOne.com have uncovered some information from Mugello. Bulega is said to have completed 20 laps on Monday afternoon, with a personal best time of 1:47.2 minutes. Ducati will not conduct any further tests with the new motorcycle until the end of June.
