At Assen, Bautista continued his winning trend by choosing the SCX B0800 rear and the SC1 front. Another WorldSSP victory for Bulega and Svoboda, the first WorldSSP300 winner of the year.
Tracks and weather conditions change, but
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) continues to set the pace in the FIM Superbike World Championship. Saturday at Assen, despite a penalty which cost him pole position, the Spaniard was able to win Race 1 ahead of his closest rivals, Jonathan Rhea (Kawasaki) and
Toprak Razgatlioğlu (Yamaha).
Double satisfaction in the Ducati camp thanks to the third victory of the season, after its Australian double, for
Nicholas Bulega (Aruba Racing WorldSSP Team).
In the first WorldSSP300 race of the year, victory went to Peter Svoboda on Kawasaki, the first victory for a rider from the Czech Republic.
As for the tires, with rather low air and asphalt temperatures, in the premier class the SCX development tire in B0800 compound (SCX-A) proved to offer something more by compared to the standard model. In WorldSSP, all the solutions provided by Pirelli demonstrated exceptional versatility.
« Compared to the first two rounds, we knew that here in Assen the temperatures would be significantly lower and so we chose the tires with this aspect in mind. Under these conditions, the SCX B0800 development tire proved to perform better than the standard SCX. In addition to being useful information, it is also a source of satisfaction for us since we have been making progress in the development of this alternative solution to the standard range for more than a year. At the front, as always, the choices are very subjective and the fact that the drivers on the grid shared their preferences equally between the SC1 and the SC2 is a further demonstration of this. As for the test in the WorldSSP size 125/70 front category, it is still too early to comment. It will take a few rounds for the drivers to get to know him well. On the other hand, in the 300 category, while keeping low temperatures in mind, providing riders with the SC2 rear tire proved to be the right choice. »
- In Superpole, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) took pole position with a time of 1'33.542. Behind the reigning world champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Toprak Razgatlioğlu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) completed the first row of the starting grid. All three drivers used SCQ tires at the rear and SC1 at the front to achieve their respective best times. Qualifying took place in rather low temperatures and on asphalt that was still a little wet in certain places due to overnight precipitation. - Due to a three-position penalty, the pole man started the race 1 from fourth on the grid, leaving first place to Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Despite this initial disadvantage, Bautista managed to regain the lead of the race on lap nine, holding it until the end and finishing ahead of second-placed Rea and Razgatlioğlu , third.
- During this first day of racing of the weekend, more or less all the solutions provided by Pirelli were used. In particular, at the front, driver preference was evenly split between the standard SC1 and the standard SC2, with the latter chosen by those who started from the front rows, including the race winner. At the rear, the most used tire was the SCX-A, which is the SCX B0800 development model.
- During qualifying, Nicholas Bulega (Aruba Racing WorldSSP Team) took pole position with a time of 1'36.900 which also broke the track record for the WorldSSP category. This is his second consecutive pole position, while Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) and Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) complete the first row. All of these riders rode the SCX compound at the rear, while at the front they used the SC1 in size 120/70 for Bulega and Van Straalen and the 125/70 (SC1-A) for Caricasulo.
- As in the WorldSBK race, all the solutions brought by Pirelli to Assen were used in the WorldSSP Race 1 race. At the front, 19 riders used the standard SC1 and the remaining 10 opted for the SC1-A, which was the size used by the WorldSBK category. At the rear, on the other hand, given the fairly low temperatures of the asphalt (26°C on average), most drivers opted for the standard SC0, more protected from the cold than the SCX. Van Straalen was the only one of the three drivers on the podium to use the rear SCX, finishing on the last step behind Marcel Schrötter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), second, and the winner of the race, Nicolò Bulega.
