It was a fairy tale start for Alvaro Bautista and the Ducati Panigale V4 R as they won Race 1 of the opening round of Pirelli WorldSBK 2019 in Phillip Island, Australia.
Bautista and the Ducat blasted into the lead in Turn 3 on the opening lap. His race laps were so hot that he had opened up an 8-second lead by mid-race. He would eventually cross the finish line 14.9 seconds ahead of the second-placed rider.
He was the first rookie rider to win a WorldSBK race on his debut since Max Biaggi in 2007.
With Bautista clearing off into the horizon, he left his rivals to fight it out among themselves. However, unlike in previous years when four-time world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) dominated his rivals, he had to fight tooth and nail with other riders this time around. His new teammate Leon Haslam provided the strongest challenge, with Alex Lowes in tow (PATA Yamaha WorldSBK Team).
Haslam managed to pass Rea only to crash later. The former remounted and finished 15th.
Further down the field, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) battled hard against Toprak Razgatlioglu on his Turkish Puccetti Racing Kawasaki. Sykes’ bike visibly struggling to keep up with the Toprak’s down the straights.
Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) was another rider who put in an amazing ride. He fought his way up from midfield, first passing Michael van Der Mark for sixth place, before chasing down Sykes, Razgatlioglu, and Lowes who was in third. Melandri claimed the final podium spot, relegating Lowes to 4th.
van Der Mark moved up to 5that the finish, while Razgatlioglu kept Sykes behind for 6th.
The biggest story day of course, is about the dream debut of Bautista and the Panigale V4 R. his teammate Chaz Davies was still struggling to learn the new bike and finished in 10th.
The results mean there were four different manufacturers in the Top Five, including one privateer team (Melandri’s GRT Yamaha).
Race 2 and the new sprint race continue tomorrow (Sunday).
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.
New factory Ducati signing Alvaro Bautista dominated the first day of the final pre-season testing at the Phillip Island Circuit, ahead of the opening round of WorldSBK 2019.
Riding the new Ducati Panigale V4 R, Bautista was the only rider to dip below the 1m 31s mark with 1m 30.743s. Bautista was only fifth fastest at Jerez test in November. The Spanish rider and Gigi Dall’Igna have both said previously that it’s still early days for the Panigale V4 R but this result is surely an encouraging sign in their quest to recapture the WSBK crown that Ducati once held.
That wasn’t the only big news from Day One. There were four different manufacturers in the Top Five. Alex Lowes took the new Yamaha YZF-R1 to second fastest with a time of 1m 31.146s.
Four-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea captured third on the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, just a whisker behind Lowes with a time of 1m 31.189s. He blew everyone away during the test at Jerez by being one second faster than the next nearest rival.
Rea’s ex-teammate and former world champion Tom Sykes rode the new BMW S 1000 RR to fourth fastest in 1m 31.300s.
Fifth fastest was Rea’s new teammate Leon Haslam who recorded his fastest time of 1m 31.999s.
Many fans and pundits of the series are hoping for a closer fight this year, after Rea’s domination in the past two seasons. They shall get their wish if it continues like today, and Rea will have his hands full in stemming the tide from three other manufacturers.
Testing continues tomorrow.
It’s not only the season for wishing prosperity, it’s also when international race teams launch their teams for the 2019 season. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike team launched their 2019 Ducati Panigale V4 R for WorldSBK 2019.
The team’s riders Chaz Davies and newcomer Alvaro Bautista will ride the new bikes in an effort to recapture the WorldSBK crown for Ducati. The Italian manufacturer had a stranglehold of the WorldSBK throughout the Nineties and it was through that championship that Ducati became a household name, before they ventured into MotoGP. However, they have not won a superbike title for the last seven years.
“We’ll be working with only one aim in mind: to win,” said Gigi Dall’Igna about Ducati Corse’s WorldSBK program.
The Ducati Panigale V4 R is also an important milestone for Ducati as it is their first V-Four-powered road bike. Indeed, the manufacturer created the Panigale V4 as their basis to win the WorldSBK title, and thereby breaking their long tradition of producing V-Twin superbikes. WorldSBK and World Supersport championships are production-based.
Make no mistake, the Ducati Panigale V4 R is a potent missile right out of the crate. On the other hand, the team and manufacturer are pragmatic in their approach. “The project is still at an early stage and development has started auspiciously well, but we still have to perfect several details and we have a clearly defined development program,” added Dall’Igna.
Team rider Chaz Davies will spend his fifth year with the red bikes and is a regular hard charger. He’s not afraid to swap paint, rubber and leather with four-time and current WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea of Kawasaki.
Alvaro Bautista could prove to be the dark horse of the factory with his extensive experience and knowledge garnered in MotoGP. He may well score a few wins this season.
All pictures: Ducati and Asphalt & Rubber
The recent British Superbike (BSB) round at Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent, England saw quite a few surprises thrown into the mix from championship winners being decided to a brand new race machine parade lap. The latter caught our attention as Ducati decided to debut the 2019 Ducati Panigale V4 R and its 1,000cc V4 configuration for racing purposes. (more…)
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