At the end of a very long winter, the two-day private Superbike test which has just ended in Jerez de la Frontera proved to be an appetizer to whet our appetite...
Jumbled, while the weather was abnormally hot for the season, we were able to discover the reigning world champion Alvaro Bautista still largely convalescing who could not hide the fact that his main opponent in 2024 will probably be his new teammate, the rookie Nicholas Bulega, arriving in the category after acquiring the Supersport world title last year.
It did not take long for the 24-year-old Italian to get his bearings on the Ducati Panigale V4R and largely win in front of the entire field. In these conditions, the pressure has increased a notch for “Alvarito” who will also have to deal with a ballast of at least 6 kg on his motorcycle adorned with the number 1…
The other important point of interest concerned the other two pilots of the magical triptych, Toprak Razgatlioglu et Jonathan Rhea, having both decided to change mounts in an attempt to undermine the hegemony of the Ducati. Here again, we were not disappointed, since the Northern Irishman got his bearings on the Yamaha R1 quickly enough to finish the test in second position, while the Turk peaked his nose at fourth place on the BMW M 1000 RR, just behind its British brand teammate, Scott Redding.
The ghost Andrea Iannone also seems sharp and, at the moment, only the Kawasakis ofalex lowes et Axel Bassani appear a little behind.
After the winter break, it's a pleasure to watch these two videos broadcast by the official website Worldsbk.com, even for those who have little mastery of the language of Shakespeare…
Results of the second day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera:
Results of the first day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera:
