An Italian Saturday with Bulega and Manzi in Australia

· It was a good start for Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) in the opening round of the WorldSBK Championship in Australia. The Italian took pole having opted for the new Pirelli rear tyre, the D0922 development medium, coupled with the standard front medium SC1, while most of the riders in qualifying used the rear standard soft SC0. In Race 1, Bulega confirmed the same rear specification, this time combined with the hard SC2 front.

· The new Pirelli rear tyre in the D0922 specification was chosen by 15 out of 21 riders on the grid. Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW), taking second place and Álvaro Bautista (Ducati) taking third, also used the same compounds as the race winner. Andrea Iannone (Ducati), coming in sixth at the finish line, finished best among those who chose the other rear made available by Pirelli, namely the D0286 specification.

· In WorldSSP Race 1, raced with a track temperature of 54°C and an air temperature of 36°C, all the riders used tyres in the medium SC1 compound at the front and the development medium in A1128 specification at the rear, the only one available. At the pit stop, no front compound changes were made with all riders confirming the SC1. Pole was taken by Stefano Manzi (Yamaha) ahead of Tom Booth-Amos (Triumph) and Marcel Schroetter (Ducati); fourth place for poleman Bo Bendsneyder (MV Agusta) who also set the fastest lap of the race on lap 12 in 1’32.643.

Great races in extremely hot conditions
 
“Compared to testing and yesterday’s racing, there was a significant increase in temperatures today with air peaks of over 36°C and, what is more relevant for us, track temperature peaks of around 55°C. Conditions like that are certainly not ideal for the riders, who definitely struggled more than usual, nor for the tyres which, even with lower temperatures, are usually extremely stressed on this circuit. The tyres, despite the flag-to-flag format, worked well, showing excellent wear at the end of the race and no signs of fatigue, an important sign for us in terms of future development. Tomorrow the temperatures should drop and be more similar to what we have had all week allowing us to collect additional useful data. I’d like to congratulate Bulega and Manzi who kept the Italian flag flying high today, but, as we wait to see how tomorrow’s races will go, a special mention must also go to Razgatlioglu who raced with a bad arm.”