Bulega sets everyone straight
The first day of 2024 pre-season testing highlighted all the determination of the new driver Official Ducatias well as teammate of the reigning world champion Alvaro Bautista: Nicolò Bulega. Despite being a rookie in this series, the 24-year-old from Emilia didn't just set the best time Jerez de la Fronterabut he is also gone one step away from the new track recordnot exceeding it by just 50 thousandths of a second.
Good signs from BMW
A Wednesday of rehearsals actually began under the sign of BMW and of Toprak Razgatlioglu, author of the best time of 1:39.873 in the morning. A 'leadership' defended for a couple of hours despite the good performances of Bulega and Rea, at least until the Yamaha overtook. However, it was not the Northern Irishman who rose to the top of the table shortly after midday, but rather Remy Gardneralmost 2 tenths of a second faster than the Turkish driver.
Bulega surpasses himself
Still at Yamaha, Dominique Aegerter then had to throw in the towel, struggling with a flu virus that prevented him from taking to the track. In the early afternoon Razgatlioglu subsequently regained the top of the standings, only to lose it again after Nicolò Bulega's excellent lap in 1:39.193, with the Supersport world champion leading by almost half a second over the new BMW driver. A performance that allowed the Ducati rider to momentarily obtain the 'prize' as the fastest rider of the day, especially on a Wednesday in which the Borgo Panigale team also tried a new ventilation system to allow better cooling of the oil radiator. At Ducati, the early end of the test should also be noted Alvaro Bautista (11th), also not in 100% physical condition but optimistic about the work carried out in Jerez to test the ballast of 7 kg. In the last hour of testing everything seemed over, but not for Bulega: the new driver of the Aruba.it team has in fact further lowered his time in 1:39.292coming close to breaking the new solo track record 50 thousandths of a second. A performance that generated a gap of over 1 second also on Stefan Bradl, present on his Honda HRC. Among the Superbike riders, Alex Lowes he finished the day in 2nd place ahead of Razgatlioglu, with the returning rider in the top-10 Iannone and Petrucci8th and 10th respectively.
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