The break between the first round of the season in Australia and the second round in Europe is always very long, but the World Superbike certainly isn't sitting idly by and has flown to Barcelona to carry out two days of collective testing in preparation for the Catalan round, in program next weekend. Nicolò Bulega is once again in command and, at the end of the first day, puts himself behind all his rivals, even coming close to breaking the track record.
The rookie of the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team seems to have enjoyed being at the top of the time charts and, as shown in the winter tests and at Phillip Island, he is at ease with the Panigale V4R with which he clocked a 1'40”304. Behind Bulega we find Toprak Razgatlioglu, who collects half a second from the leader aboard the factory team's BMW. At the end of the day, the Turk moved into second position, thus depriving Ducati of a one-two: Alvaro Bautista was in fact third, seven tenths behind his teammate.
Another Ducati in fourth position, and it is that of Sam Lowes. The Briton, making his debut in Superbike this year with the Marc VDS team, is familiarizing himself with the four-cylinder and is placing himself as the best of the independent riders, having however mounted the SCQ tire (like the three in front of him).
We find Jonathan Rea in fifth position, who, unlike the first four, hasn't mounted tires for some time. The Yamaha rider is continuing the process of adapting to the R1 and precedes Remy Gardner, sixth (with a harmless fall during the day). Danilo Petrucci is credited with the seventh fastest time at the end of Day 1 and precedes Michael Ruben Rinaldi by just eight thousandths.
Closing the top 10 we find Garrett Gerloff, ninth with the BMW of the Bonovo team, and Alex Lowes, tenth and first of the Kawasaki riders. His teammate Axel Bassani, however, did not go beyond the 14th time, a sign that he is still working hard on the ZX-10RR. Andrea Iannone was also delayed and at the end of Day 1 was satisfied with the 11th fastest time. The Goeleven rider takes a second and a half behind the leader Bulega and precedes Andrea Locatelli, 12th with the official Yamaha.
Much more important is the delay of the other two BMW drivers: Michael van der Mark and Scott Redding are 15th and 19th respectively. It was also a late night at HRC, where the best representative was Xavi Vierge, only 18th. 21st place for Iker Lecuona, behind Dominique Aegerter. Also on track are Michele Pirro and Testuta Nagashima, who are credited with the 13th and 16th times respectively.
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