Alvaro Bautista and Ducati again dominated the second day of the final WorldSBK 2019 pre-season test.
The Baustista-Ducati Panigale V4 R package had yielded the best time of 1m 30.743s on Day One, being the only rider to dip under the 1m 31s mark. The next fastest rider was Tom Sykes on the new BMW S 1000 RR, nearly 0.6 second behind with a time of 1m 31.300s.
But if the lap time from Day One was unassailable, Bautista put it even further out of reach on Day Two with a blistering best time of 1m 30.303s.
More importantly, that fastest lap wasn’t just one flying lap, proceeded by mediocre lap times. Bautista put in a total of 33 laps in the second session. Of that total, he ran 17 laps in the 1m 30s, 8 laps in the low 1m 31s bracket, while the rest were out laps (leaving the pit), slow down laps (to enter the pits) and in the pits. That is an amazing progression by any count. Bautista also recorded the highest top speed among the field with 314.9 km/h.
This domination is great news for Ducati, who were the King of Superbikes in the 90’s and early 2000’s.
The Top Five of the field actually improved on their fastest laps on Day Two, all dipping under the 1m 31s mark. Tom Sykes was second fastest on the BMW with a time of 1m 30.539s; new Kawasaki signing Leon Haslam finished third fastest with 1m 30.668s; four-time and 2018 champion Jonathan Rea in fourth on the Kawasaki with 1m 30.722s; and privateer Yamaha rider Marco Melandri recorded the fifth fastest time of 1m 1m 30.760s ahead of factory Yamaha rider Michael van Der Mark.
That’s four different manufacturers in the top five. Looks like we have an awesome WorldSBK 2019 season brewing.
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