The top four riders in FP2 were all aboard Ducatis. The pack was led by Nicolo Bulega the World superbike rookie that has turned heads since pre season testing for his first run at a world superbike title. Bulega said, “I’m happy because we worked very well today collecting a lot of data that will be useful tomorrow. We also did a good job with the tires which allowed us to have clearer ideas. It will be essential to make the right choice also because tire wear will probably be one of the determining factors for the race.” On day one of racing action at Catalunya Ducati riders Bulega, Alvaro Bautista, Danilo Petrucci and Alex Lowes topped the field. Toprak Razgatlioglu fell to P5 after topping the table in FP1 ahead of his teammate.
Alvaro Bautista Responds to Hints at Intra Ducati Competition
Alvaro Bautista finished behind his new teammate Bulega in FP2. Bautista has been battling injuries that have lingered from the pre season which have slowed down his pace on track. When asked about intra team competition Bautista said, “If it’s like that, I’ll sign now! Because for me it has been a really hard winter and first race, because the feeling riding the bike was not the best and I couldn’t ride as I wanted. First, I thought it was because of my injury, but in the test, I felt okay and I couldn’t ride like I wanted yet, so there was something wrong.
Fortunately, today we found something that helped me a lot to ride as I wanted. Tomorrow will be another day and we will try to keep this improvement. Races in Barcelona are really hard for the tires, and you have to manage really well the situation. In the past I did it well, but I was the fastest on race pace, so it was easy to be 3-4 tenths slower than my normal pace to manage the tire. Now I’m not the fastest guy, so I need to push from the beginning. It’s a different situation.”