Bautista and Rinaldi look strong in WorldSBK winter testing

WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista looked strong in the first winter testing session for the upcoming 2023 season at Jerez de la Frontera in Spain.

Bautista, and Aruba.it Racing - Ducati teammate Michael Rinaldi tested the new Ducati Panigale V4 R for the first time, alternating with the 2022 bikes for comparisons that produced data ahead of the start of the WorldSBK season.

Bautista completed 86 laps on day one, finishing with the second-best time (1'38.851), two-tenths behind Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha). Third place for Rinaldi was in third place, with his best time of 1'39.240, completing 72 laps.

On the second day, both Bautista (1'38.449 - 86 laps completed) and Rinaldi (1'38.646 - 67 laps completed) were able to lower their lap times, finishing third and fourth respectively behind Razgatlioglu (Yamaha - 1'38.269) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki - 1'38.325)

"Two very interesting days of testing," said Bautista. "We tried the new Panigale V4R for the first time and I have to say that the sensations were very positive. We worked a lot on the tire solutions even though obviously the very low temperature of these two days doesn't allow us to have very clear ideas. In any case, I am very satisfied with our work."

The Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team is back on the track at Portimao (Portugal) this week for the second session of winter testing

"We have worked on both the bike and the tires. We go to Portiamo with a good charge knowing that we have faced two very productive days," Rinaldi stated. "Our lap times were in line with the front guys even if with the qualifying tire I wasn't able to improve much. On the race pace, on the other hand, the feeling was really good, that's why I am happy.”