Aruba.it Racing - Ducati review the Portimao WorldSBK Test
Today at 04:46 AM
Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista had a mixed couple of days at the Portimao World Superbike Test.
After a two-day test at Portimao the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati riders walk away with a seemingly competitive pace.
However, things were not as easy for the factory Ducati riders as they seemed on paper. The main factor that both Ducati riders will be keeping an eye on is the 2024 World Superbike Champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu, who ended both days on top of the timesheets.
Nicolo Bulega may have dominated the weekend at Phillip Island but had to settle for second on both days of the Portimao Test. He was also lucky to walk away from the test uninjured after a heavy crash at Turn 11.
"It was a bit of a difficult test for us because we worked hard to find a good feeling, but it didn't arrive," Bulega said.
"This morning [Day 2] I had a big crash on a very fast corner here in Portimao. Fortunately, I am good, but it was more difficult to work because we lost some time as a result, then later the rain made it a difficult and strange test.
"At the end of the session, the last 15 minutes, we were a bit better; we still have lots of work to do but in the end, we were a lot better."
"We made some small changes but nothing big" - Bautista
On the other side of the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati garage Alvaro Bautista only participated on Day Two of the test.
The two-time World Superbike Champion ended the day in eighth but explained that he was working on a base setup for the upcoming Portimao World Superbike round at the end of the month.
"We were able to do some laps, especially in the morning, we started the day with the same setup that we finished the last round with, in Australia," said Bautista.
"The feeling was good, I felt good on the bike. We made some small changes but nothing big. In the afternoon with the rain, the feeling was a bit worse because I couldn't feel the tyres as easily.
"In general, in the morning I felt good, the pace wasn't too bad, but we will have to see what the conditions will be like on the race weekend, we prepared the base setup and we will adapt the package from there."
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