WorldSBK Barcelona Testing Results [D1] | Alvaro Bautista, Ducati smash record

Alvaro Bautista has laid down his marker ahead of the 2022 WorldSBK Championship by setting a record-breaking pace during the latest pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The first proper group test of the pre-season involving 19 of the 24 riders listed to compete this year, including all five factory backed manufacturer teams, it was Ducati that stole a march on day one in Spain.

A confidence boost for Bautista as he re-acquaints himself with the Ducati Panigale V4 R he vacated after a successful rookie season in 2019 for two middling years on the Honda.

Though he did suffer an off at Turn 10, Bautista went on to put go beneath the lap record with a 1m 40.842s effort on the sticky Pirelli SCX tyre, leaving him 0.4s clear of Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea in second place.

Fastest in the morning, Garrett Gerloff looked to be back to his best form on the GRT Yamaha with a fine third best overall, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi - a winner in the wet in Barcelona last year - and reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu, who spent the day working on electronics.

Alex Lowes followed in sixth place, ahead of privateer Kawasaki stablemate Lucas Mahias on the Puccetti machine.

Xavi Vierge was the best of the Honda contingent in eighth place, just under a second off the top spot, while Andrea Locatelli and Eugene Laverty rounded out the top ten. 

The Irishman the quickest of four BMW riders on track, including Scott Redding who followed in 11th place from Iker Lecuona.

Elsewhere, Ilya Mikhalchik made his WorldSBK debut in place of the injured Michael van der Mark on the factory BMW, the Ukrainian 17th quickest, 1.5s off Redding. 

2022 WorldSBK Testing Results | Barcelona | 25 March [Friday]