Álvaro Bautista, once again unstoppable on his Ducati Panigale V4 R, wins WorldSBK Race 1 at Aragón, praising the work done by Pirelli

For the first race of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship weekend on the Spanish track of MotorLand Aragón, Álvaro Bautista and the new Ducati Panigale V4 R managed by team Aruba.it Racing – Ducati once again demonstrated their clear superiority.

In fact, the Spaniard set the new track record with a time of 1’49.049, taking Superpole^®and winning Race 1 with an advantage at the finish of more than fifteen seconds ahead of his nearest followers, Reigning World Champion Jonathan Rea, second, and his Ducati teammate, Chaz Davies, third.

Álvaro Bautista was fast from the very first sessions on Friday, obtaining an excellent feeling with the larger size tyres Pirelli brought for this round, so much that he stated: “I’m pleased with the work Pirelli has done because they always try to improve and bring new tyres to every race.”

In fact, for this round, the Italian tyre manufacturer made only larger size 125/70 front and 200/65 rear tyres available to the riders with excellent results, significantly improving on race times from previous years.

At the start of Race 1, Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR) fell victim to an accident and was forced to abandon the race. Shortly thereafter, Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team / Honda CBR1000RR) and Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) were also forced to retire due to accidents.
Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R), starting from pole position, once again led the race on a solitary ride out front.
In the meantime, Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1), starting from the fourth spot on the grid, overtook Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR) to move into second place behind race leader Bautista.
On the other hand, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), starting from the tenth spot on the grid, clawed his way through the ranks quickly, and on the third lap, he moved into fourth place behind Sykes. During the fifth lap, Rea managed to overtake Sykes first and then Lowes, moving into second place, and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) managed to do the same to move into third.
During the seventh lap, the battle for second began between Rea and Davies, who swapped spots back and forth on every lap. Gaining the upper hand was Rea, whereas on the eleventh lap, Davies was forced to yield the spot to Lowes who returned to a virtual podium position.
In the meantime, Bautista led by more than eleven seconds ahead of second and third place riders, Rea and Lowes. During the twelfth lap, the English Yamaha rider moved momentanely into second place, but shortly thereafter, Rea took it back.
In the second part of the race, it was a three-way battle between Rea, Lowes, Davies and Van Der Mark for the lower steps of the podium. In the end, Rea gained the upper hand, finishing second, with Davies behind him for third, while Álvaro Bautista once again created a wide gap, riding under the chequered flag with an advantage of more than fifteen seconds ahead of Rea and Davies. On the very last lap, Eugene Laverty (Team Goeleven / Ducati Panigale V4 R), who, up to that moment, had ridden an outstanding race and was in fourth place, crashed but managed to rejoin, only to finish dead last.

WorldSBK Race 1 Standings:

1) Á. Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
2) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
3) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
4) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
5) T. Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR)
6) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
7) S. Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1)
8) T. Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
9) L. Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
10) J. Torres (Team Pedercini Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
11) L. Camier (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
12) M. Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1)
13) M. Rinaldi (Barni Racing Team / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
14) R. Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
15) E. Laverty (Team Goeleven / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
RT) L. Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
RT) A. Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
RT) M. Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR)

The Pirelli solutions chosen by the WorldSBK riders for Race 1:

In Race 1, the riders were undecided until the last minute about which tyre to put on the rear, due to the low asphalt temperature of just 20°C. In the end, almost all the riders used the standard SC0 in the larger 200/65 size (option A). The only ones to use the medium solution instead of the soft, namely the Y0187 SC1 development tyre (option C), were Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR), Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) and Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura / Kawasaki ZX-10RR).
As for the front, thirteen out of the eighteen riders on the grid decided to match the larger size rear tyre with the standard SC1 in the 125/70 size (option A). Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR) and Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team / Honda CBR1000RR), on the other hand, opted for the X1071 SC2 development solution (option B), whereas Kawasaki riders Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) went with the new X1118 SC2 development tyre (option C).

Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 1:

• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R),in 1'49.755 at the 2^nd lap

• Most used front solution: standard SC1 125/70 (13 out of 18 riders)

• Most used rear solution: standard SC0 200/66 (14 out of 18 riders)

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 323.4 km/h, achieved by Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) in the 14^th lap

• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 5 front and 8 rear

• Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 83, including 42 front and 41 rear

• Air temperature: 13° C

• Asphalt temperature: 20° C