In the race, Bulega initially lost the lead to a fast-starting Iannone but managed to find his way into the lead after a sequence of quick passes. After the pit stops, with a clear track in front of him, the Italian stretched his advantage to over four seconds.

Later on, he had to keep Andrea Locatelli at bay, who rejoined with two lap fresher tires.

If there was a dream debut to be had, then Nicolo Bulega’s World Superbike debut has to be right up there. With this win, Nicolo Bulega becomes the only rider to win the World Supersport championship and then follow that up by leading the World Superbike Championship the very next day. And he wasn’t shy in describing what the day felt like:

“Maybe it’s the best day of my life!” Bulega said when speaking to WorldSBK.com. “It’s difficult to already believe it but it is something incredible; I was dreaming about this for many months, but now it’s reality.”

“I took pole position, I won my first race, and got the lap record. It’s something special that I’ll never forget.”

“I started to cry a little bit and then, there were good emotions as I saw all my guys on the finish line and all my guys with a big, incredible smile.

“It was so nice for me. It’s incredible because this team is like my second family and they always believed in me. When I came here from Moto2™, I was in a bad moment but they kept believing.”

“This is my third year with them and we started in a very good way. I’ll try to continue giving them a lot of smiles. I’m ready for my first Tissot Superpole Race and I’ll try to do my best.”