At the Portuguese GP, scheduled the next week in Portimao (November 7-9), Nicolò Bulega will make his MotoGP debut with the Ducati Lenovo Team. The Aruba.it-Racing Ducati rider, 2023 Supersport World Champion, 2024/25 production-based championship runner-up, and MotoGP test rider for the Borgo Panigale factory, will replace Marc Márquez for the final two rounds of the season.
In Portimao, Nicolò, who tested the Desmosedici GP for the first time yesterday at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, will crown the milestone of his 100th race in the World Championship (50 races in Moto3 and 49 races in Moto2) with this important achievement.
Nicolò Bulega (Ducati Lenovo Team #11)
“I’m very happy to be able to end a season like this one with a last-minute surprise. Making the MotoGP debut is the dream of any kid who aspires to become a rider. Plus, being able to ride the World Champion bike for the final two race of the 2025 makes everything even more exciting. It’ll be a big gamble; I have no expectations. I’ll take this experience calmly, especially because, so far, I’ve only been able to test the Desmosedici GP at Jerez. That said, I’m certainly motivated to do well and give my all. Thanks to Ducati and Ducati Corse for their trust, to Claudio, Gigi, Mauro, Davide, Stefano, and Serafino for making me feel their full support and to Team Aruba.it Racing, with whom we finished a season as protagonists”.
Luigi Dall’Igna (General Manager of Ducati Corse)
“I’m very happy to see Nicolò working on the Desmosedici GP. Nicolò has been part of the Ducati Corse family since 2022, when we wanted him to ride the Supersport bike. We believed in him, and he repaid us with two seasons as an absolute protagonist in Superbike, where he came close to the title and became our reference point as a rider. Furthermore, for next year we announced his commitment, together with Michele Pirro, in the developing the Desmosedici GP with new tires, and the opportunity to race in the final two GPs is the best way to begin working in this new role as a test rider. It will certainly be demanding, but I hope he’ll be able to enjoy this experience: for a young rider, making the debut in the top category of our sport is a great satisfaction”.
Nicolò Bulega
Born in 1999 in Montecchio Emilia, Nicolò began racing in the early 2000s. In 2011, he was the Italian and European MiniGP Junior 50 champion. In 2012, he became PreGP 125 champion, and the following year, he won the PreGP 250 championship. In 2014, he took part in the Spanish championship, where he triumphed the following year. He made his Moto3 World Championship debut in 2015, as a wildcard. In 2016, he raced in Moto3: as a rookie, he achieved a pole position and two podiums. In 2019, he moved to Moto2, a category in which he will compete until the end of 2021.
In 2022, he left the MotoGP paddock to join Ducati. He competed in the Supersport World Championship with Team Aruba bringing the Panigale to the podium. The 2023 was a year to remember: he was the Supersport World Champion with ten pole positions and sixteen wins. This achievement allowed him to make his Superbike debut in 2024: as a rookie, he finished second overall a solid result that he repeated in 2025.
