Superbike, Alvaro Bautista gets off to a strong start at home

Alvaro Bautista in front

The Friday of the Prosecco DOC Round in Catalonia at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and valid for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship saw Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) sign a great time towards the end of the session: the Spaniard put on a great race pace.

Alvaro Bautista remains the man to beat over race distance with a 14-lap run of 1’42” in FP1. 16 laps for the Spaniard this afternoon, all in the mid-low 1’42” and with a 1’41.486 as best time. Second best time for his boxmate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who had been the fastest on the track this morning.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) ends his day on Catalan soil in third position while boxmate Alex Lowes is ninth in the combined. Once again Kawasaki struggles when temperatures rise.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) has the fourth time in the combined.The Turk has yet to win in Barcelona. This afternoon his teammate Andrea Locatelli crashed in turn 5 after losing the front end. At the end of the day the Lombard is sixth.