Victory with wide margin for the BMW rider at WorldSSP

Pole man Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team – Ducati) took his fifth win of the season using the SCX rear combined with the standard SC1 front in Race 1 of WorldSSP with a lead of over four and a half seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. The Spaniard also set the new best race lap, breaking the record Nicolò Bulega had set last year by a tenth and a half.

SC0 a safe bet, SCX an alternative, record-setting SCQ
 
“The track temperature range both yesterday and today – more or less around 20/25°C, is precisely the crossover point between the two rear SC0 and SCX solutions, so choosing one of the two becomes a bike setup strategy and rider preference. On our part, we found that both options provide excellent levels of grip and rider confidence, but at the start of Race 1, a more prudent choice in favour of the SC0 prevailed. We are in line with the choices from last year, as well as what is used in BSB on this track. The SCX returned significant signs in terms of grip, so we still consider it to be a valid option, perhaps for the Superpole Race tomorrow morning, if the weather conditions improve just enough to take us into the optimum range for its use. We are extremely satisfied with the way the SCQ has performed, which Razgatlioğlu used to set an incredible lap time, breaking the previous record by a wide margin. The temperatures tomorrow will play a determining role in choices for the Superpole Race and it will also be interesting to see how the situation evolves for Race 2 in terms of the conditions and the progressive improvement of bike settings.”

WorldSBK

· ⁠Almost all the riders on the grid chose the SC1 front and SC0 rear combination for Race 1. The only exceptions were Bautista, Rinaldi, Rabat, and Norrodin, who opted for the SCX at the rear. The race this year, completed in a time of 33’16,535 with 23 laps, was more than 12 seconds faster than Race 1 in 2023, with an average improvement per lap of over half a second.

· ⁠In qualifying, Toprak Razgatlioğlu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was the only rider of the weekend to drop below the 1’25 mark and, with his best lap at 1’24,629, he broke the all-time Donington record that Álvaro Bautista had set last year by an amazing 1.2 seconds. Another 12 riders, also using the SC1 front and SCQ rear combination, dropped below the previous track record.

· ⁠In practice on Friday, with asphalt temperatures ranging from 18°C to 23°C, most of the work focused on the SC1 front and SC0 rear solutions. As the track conditions and rider confidence gradually improved, most were able to try the two softer SCX and SCQ alternative rear solutions today. With the latter, already in the morning practice sessions, Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team – Yamaha) was just shy of one tenth of a second faster than the track record.

WorldSSP

· ⁠The standard SC1 front was chosen by all three of the riders who finished on the podium. Race winner Adrian Huertas and third-place finisher Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team – Ducati) combined it with the standard SCX at the rear, whereas second-place finisher Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha) preferred the SC0. In addition to them, 23 riders went with the standard SC1 and 6 opted for the development SC1 in D0444 specification tyre for the front. At the rear, a total of 23 riders started the race with the standard SC0, and 9 with the standard SCX.

· ⁠The qualifying time of 1’28,322 that earned Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team – Ducati) pole position was achieved using the SC1 front and the SCX rear, also setting the new all-time track lap record for the category, nearly 7 tenths faster than the previous record set by Nicolò Bulega in 2023. Already in the morning FP1 session, using the same tyre combination, Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team – Ducati) had dropped below the 1’29 mark, breaking it by just over a tenth of a second.