Bulega to race MotoGP for VR46 in 2027: the rookie with the Ducati head start

• Bulega in MotoGP 2027: a full-time seat at the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, with Fermin Aldeguer as his team-mate
• Franco Morbidelli vacates the seat and takes over Bulega’s Superbike ride at Aruba.it Ducati in return
• 26 wins from 27 races in the current Superbike season, plus a record run of 25 consecutive victories

The decision came on the sidelines of the home round at Misano and ends a waiting game that had been building for months. The second seat in Valentino Rossi’s team was the last open slot in Ducati’s line-up for the new MotoGP era. For Bulega, the move means more than a change of category. He is returning to a paddock he left without a future in 2021, and to the very team where his world championship career once began.

Which team will Nicolo Bulega ride for in MotoGP in 2027?

Bulega will race for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team in 2027, which Ducati runs as a factory-supported customer squad. His team-mate will be Fermin Aldeguer, who arrives from Gresini.

Ducati has not commented on contract lengths. According to media reports, Aldeguer has signed a two-year deal, while Bulega is said to have agreed to a one-year commitment with an option for a second season. Media reports are also the source of the most interesting point from a sporting perspective: Bulega is said to be getting a factory bike, meaning the same machinery as Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta and Aldeguer. That would give Valentino Rossi’s team two riders on current factory equipment for the first time, with Ducati reportedly covering the larger share of the cost. None of this has been officially confirmed so far.

Ducati itself emphasises the sporting logic above all. Company boss Claudio Domenicali says Bulega has earned his shot at MotoGP on track: “Nicolò has earned on the track the opportunity to measure himself against MotoGP.” Racing chief Luigi Dall’Igna describes VR46 as the right environment in which to ease Bulega into the premier class. Together with Aldeguer, he says, it creates a young pairing with plenty of potential, with both riders arriving from different directions.

Why are Bulega and Morbidelli effectively swapping places?

Franco Morbidelli loses his MotoGP seat at VR46 and takes over Bulega’s bike in the Aruba.it Ducati Superbike factory team in 2027. Both Italians are therefore switching series, but staying within the Ducati fold.

For Morbidelli, it brings an end to a MotoGP career spanning nine seasons. He finished runner-up in 2020, missing the title by 13 points, having taken the Moto2 crown three years earlier. At Aruba.it, the 32-year-old gets the chance to fight for wins in a championship Ducati has dominated this season. His previous team-mate Fabio di Giannantonio is already under contract at Red Bull KTM.

From being dropped by the Grand Prix paddock back to the premier class

Bulega’s route to MotoGP has been an unusual one. He won the Junior World Championship in 2015 and stepped up to Moto3 as a highly rated talent from the VR46 Riders Academy. He contested his first full season in 2016 with VR46 and finished seventh overall with two podiums, including second place in Jerez.

Then things went downhill. In 2017 he took a pole position but no podium and slipped to twelfth, and in 2018 he scored points on only four occasions. The move up to Moto2 in 2019 brought no turnaround either, leaving him 17th at the end of the year. A team change and two more seasons without a breakthrough followed. At 22, Bulega was out of the Grand Prix paddock.

The fresh start came in production-based racing. In 2022 he contested the Supersport World Championship for Ducati and finished fourth at the first attempt; a year later he won sixteen races and the title on the Panigale V2. In 2024 he was promoted to the Superbike factory team, won on his debut at Phillip Island and finished runner-up to Toprak Razgatlioglu in both seasons. Looking back, team principal Stefano Cecconi says the signing was a bet on a major talent: “we knew we were investing in a young rider with great talent.”

What makes Bulega an unusual MotoGP rookie?

Bulega already knows the MotoGP Ducati from both racing and development work. Ducati employs him as its second test rider alongside Michele Pirro and has had him involved in testing the new 850cc prototype for months.

He made his premier-class race debut back at the end of 2025, standing in for the injured Marc Marquez at the factory team over the final two Grand Prix weekends and finishing 15th on both occasions. He also took part in a pre-season test in spring 2026. On top of that comes an advantage almost no other newcomer brings with them: from 2027 Pirelli replaces Michelin as the control tyre supplier, and Bulega has been racing on those tyres for five years. He recently spoke positively about the state of development of the 850. Although the prototype has less power than the current 1000cc bike, he reckons the deficit in lap times is surprisingly small.

Bulega himself is keeping expectations in check. He says he is not setting any concrete targets for now and prefers to think from race to race. He calls the step up itself a dream: “Getting to MotoGP is a dream.” He explains his choice of VR46 with their shared history, saying he knows the team from his time in the academy and that the move is easier alongside familiar faces. VR46 team director Alessio Salucci points out that both rider and squad have developed considerably since those early years together, and considers Bulega mature enough for the new challenge.

Where does Bulega currently stand in the Superbike World Championship?

Bulega leads the 2026 Superbike World Championship by a clear margin and has won 26 of the first 27 races. His only defeat was a second place behind team-mate Iker Lecuona at Donington Park.

On top of that comes a record that stretches beyond the current season: 25 consecutive wins, counted from the Estoril round in 2025 to the first race at Donington this year. A first shot at sealing the title could come at Cremona at the end of September. That is exactly where both Ducati and the Superbike team are placing their focus for the remaining weeks. Aruba.it Racing has confirmed the split at the end of the season while explicitly stressing the shared goal of still taking the riders’ title. Dall’Igna thanked the team for the groundwork of recent years and called it the first partner to believe in Bulega.

Who will fight for rookie of the year honours in 2027?

In his first full MotoGP season, Bulega will face four other newcomers, all of them arriving from Moto2. The names mentioned are David Alonso at Honda, Dani Holgado at Gresini, Izan Guevara at Pramac and Senna Agius at Tech3, whose signing has yet to be made official.

The move therefore falls in a season in which MotoGP has to absorb several upheavals at once. Engine capacity drops to 850cc, Pirelli takes over tyre supply, and close to a quarter of the grid consists of new full-time riders. What all the rookies have in common is that they already know the Pirelli tyres, while the established riders have to adapt away from Michelin. At Ducati, Bulega will be the only Italian in 2027; his five brand colleagues Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta, Joan Mir, Dani Holgado and Fermin Aldeguer all come from Spain.

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