The final morning of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship testing concluded at MotorLand Aragon with the Supported Test, as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) topped the timesheets on his Ducati Panigale V4 R. In contrast to yesterday morning’s session, the majority of the field ventured out on track despite the cold conditions with times around one second off the pace set yesterday afternoon.

Bautista put in a series of lap times towards the end of the session before posting a best time of 1’50.097s to top the timesheets by 0.274s ahead of his nearest rivals. Bautista was aiming for small tweaks on his machine to gain performance ahead of the season starting and finished ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) whose best time was a 1’50.371s, with the six-time Champion aiming to finetune his ZX-10RR. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) ensured three manufacturers were in the top three as he claimed third place, 0.429s back from Bautista on his YZF R1 machine.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed fourth place, less than a tenth back from Gerloff with Lowes trying to not make too many changes to his bike due to the difference in expected conditions at the Pirelli Aragon Round. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) had been running in second place during the closing stages of the test but found himself bumped down to fifth, ahead of reigning Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK).

Razgatligolu’s teammate, Andrea Locatelli, was three tenths down on the Turkish star in seventh place with a best time of 1’51.231s while rookie Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) was eighth on his Panigale V4 R. Oettl posted the best sector four time on his fastest lap, with all four sectors featuring a different rider at the top of the timesheets. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was the fastest BMW rider in ninth place while Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) rounded out the top ten.

The factory BMW duo of Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Ilya Mikhalchik were 12^th and 15^th respectively with Redding’s best time a 1’51.882s, 1.785s off Bautista’s pace. Team HRC duo Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge opted not to go out, while Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) was 17^th despite a crash at Turn 2.

The top ten following WorldSBK morning action, full results here:

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’50.097s

2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.274s

3. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.429s

4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.509s

5. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.632s

6. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.855s

7. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +1.134s

8. Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) +1.254s

9. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) +1.517s

10. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +1.691s

Don’t miss any action from WorldSBK in 2022 using the WorldSBK VideoPass!