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Friday’s action for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship concluded at Donington Park for the Prosecco DOC UK Round with the highest-placed Ducati in fifth place in the combined standings although two did make it into the top six. With Donington Park a circuit where Ducati have found wins and podiums hard to come by in recent years, is 2022 set to be another year where the Bologna-manufacturer struggle at the historic UK circuit?

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was the lead Ducati rider after Friday’s action in fifth place, ahead of teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi in sixth with just 0.005s separating the two factory Ducati riders. Bautista’s best time was a 1’27.730s, set in FP2, with Rinaldi also setting his best, a 1’27.735s, in the second session of the day.

The pair were around two tenths away from Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) in second place, but just over seven tenths away from six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), as the Ulsterman flexed his muscles on his home circuit to take a commanding lead after Friday’s action. Rea was 0.551s clear of Razgatlioglu at the end of the day.

Bautista finished FP1 in fifth place after posting a best time of 1’28.161s before improving that time by half-a-second in FP2 although his position did not change in the combined classification. Despite the gap to Rea, Bautista was positive after the day’s action had ended as he looks for his second podium at Donington; the last coming in Race 2 in 2019.

Reacting to Friday at Donington Park, Bautista said: “I think today has been a positive day. I felt better than I expected; I didn’t expect anything before coming here because I remember three years ago, it was very tough for me. Today, I was feeling much better. The feeling with the bike wasn’t too bad especially with the race pace because I felt quite comfortable compared to three years. I think our pace today was acceptable. Anyway, we have some small details to improve for tomorrow that maybe can help me gain some tenths and especially be more consistent. I’m happy with today.”

Rinaldi comes into the UK Round full of confidence after two podiums on home soil last time out at Misano, and he started off strongly with third in Free Practice 1 before finishing sixth in the combined classification. He had a crash at Turn 12 in FP2 which cost him a little bit of running time but was able to finish in sixth place and just 0.005s behind his teammate.

Rinaldi said: “We used the base from Misano, and it worked really well here. I didn’t expect that. I spoke with the team to just make small adjustments and it paid off because, in FP2, I had a good race pace and consistent. This track is so demanding but with this setup and this work I can go fast every lap, so that means the base is really good. We still need a little bit. I think are on the path to try and fight for the podium, which is our goal.”

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