Although the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team didn’t complete the full two days of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship testing at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, both Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista left the test feeling positive. Bulega only took part on Tuesday while Bautista was on track for 1.5 days, ending his test slightly early on Wednesday after getting through his test programme. After their respective tests ended, both Bulega and Bautista, as well as Team Manager Serafino Foti, reviewed the Jerez test.

BULEGA QUICKEST OF ALL: Day 1 time remains unbeaten

Bulega ended the test as the fastest rider on Day 1 and overall, after putting on an SCQ tyre to set a 1’38.412s. He racked up 86 laps on his only test day at Jerez as he focused on small details as well as working on the base of his Panigale V4 R, as he aims to go one better in 2025 than he did in his rookie campaign.

Reviewing his test and speaking on Tuesday, Bulega said: “I’m happy. We tried different, small things and they worked quite well. We were lucky because my feeling with the bike was already very good from the race. We didn’t lose a lot of time to find a good setup. We started the test with a good base. We worked on that. I set my time with the SCQ, I tried it just because we put something different on the bike but I’m happier with the race pace and then the SCQ.”

BAUTISTA POSITIVE DESPITE CRASH: focusing on a new base

Bautista completed more running than his teammate with an extra few hours of testing on Wednesday. 85 laps on Tuesday, despite a Turn 2 crash, was followed up by 55 more on Wednesday during his shortened day. His fastest time was a 1’39.567s, from Day 1, but he didn’t use a SCQ tyre like Bulega did. Bautista’s main focus was to reset after an up-and-down year, looking at the base of his Panigale V4 R and trying something new right at the end of his test.

Bautista said on Wednesday: “We decided just to do half a day to continue the work we started on Day 1. The important thing for us was to reset and create a new base. I didn’t want to touch anything on Day 1, just to change my approach to riding the bike. On Day 2, we didn’t touch anything until the last exit. It was good because I was getting more confident, changing how I was riding on the bike a little bit and understanding many things. With all the data from Tuesday and Wednesday morning, we made a setup change which allowed me to ride a bit better. I just did one exit, but it was really nice. I had a better feeling. It’s been positive because we have different data from the past and we have the winter to analyse everything and try to make a programme for the work in the first test of next year.”

FROM THE TEAM: “The test was so positive…”

Team Manager Foti summed up the test from a team point of view, saying: “Regarding Nicolo, we did just one day because he finished the programme so it had no sense to lose another day. We worked with him only on the setup of the bike, to improve the setup a little bit. We’re quite happy with the results and I think he’s ready for the January test. For Alvaro, it was important for him to try a different configuration of the bike because our goal was to try to get the feeling with the bike. We tried a lot of things on Wednesday morning and the test was so positive. He didn’t use any soft tyres or development tyres, just the standard ones to improve the feeling with the bike.”

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Source: WorldSBK.com