Kawasaki v Ducati: Who will come out on top at Aragon?
Both Kawasaki and Ducati topped the timesheets throughout the day after Friday running with many questions still left to be answered…
MotorLand Aragon has been Ducati and Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) territory in recent years and expectations were similar heading into the Prosecco DOC Aragon Round. After Ducati and Davies topped Free Practice 1, Kawasaki were able to respond with both Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and teammate Alex Lowes setting competitive lap times in Free Practice 2.
The other Ducati challenge came from Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) with the Italian being the fastest Independent rider after going second overall; Ducati taking first and second in the timesheets overall while Kawasaki finished first and second in the second Free Practice session.
Rea said: “I felt pretty okay today, felt good with the bike. We already had a test, so we understood the base setup of the bike. We made a big change with the wheelbase of the bike to understand how it’s working in these hotter conditions. For me, it wasn’t a positive direction, so we went back to what we had this morning and at the test.”
Factory rider Davies said: “Obviously, I am super happy to be on top of the pile after day one. Again, obviously the most important thing is to work for the race which I think we did well. That’s what I am happiest about; firstly, I think we’ve understood our set-up firstly, and our tyres secondly. We are ready to race which is a good feeling to have, but there’s going to be a lot of guys there as usual and tomorrow will be a fun battle!”
Independent Ducati rider Rinaldi said: “We came here without testing but since the beginning we were pretty fast. I’m happy with the position but we are not 100% with the setup because I am not feeling good on the bike. Even if I don’t have a good feeling, I am pretty fast even with the used tyre.”
With both manufacturers staking their claim to be number one at MotorLand Aragon, and with nothing to choose between Kawasaki and Ducati after Friday’s running, the battle will go on as the weekend progresses. Next up, after Free Practice 3, will be Tissot Superpole and Race 1 as the duo of manufacturers duke it out.
You can see the battle continue throughout the Prosecco DOC Aragon Around with the WorldSBK VideoPass!
