Bulega and Ducati: a hat-trick with new Pirelli tire

· After winning Race 1 on Saturday, Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) also claimed victory in the Superpole Race and Race 2 held today at Phillip Island, Australia, giving Ducati a beautiful hat-trick in the first round of the WorldSBK Championship. In all races, as well as in qualifying, Bulega rode with the new Pirelli rear tyre in D0922 specification, combining it with the front tyre with the hard SC2 in Race 1 and the medium SC1 for the short race and Race 2.

· Today’s Superbike races took place with track temperatures of around 45°C, about 10° lower than those recorded in Race 1 yesterday. Sunday’s WorldSBK podiums were dominated by Ducati riders: in the Superpole Race Bulega was joined by Andrea Iannone, second, and Danilo Petrucci, third. In Race 2, however, it was Álvaro Bautista who took second place ahead of Iannone. The first six bikes reaching the finish line in Race 2 were all Ducatis and all were equipped with the D0922 rear compound, with the exception of Iannone’s which used the D0286 compound.

· For the WorldSSP Race 2, the riders confirmed the compounds used yesterday in Race 1, in fact they all opted for the SC1 medium at the front and the medium A1128 for the rear, with one particular note: the Triumph riders, including race winner Tom Booth-Amos, didn’t change the front tyre at the pit-stop, completing the entire race distance with a single tyre. Second place went to Race 1 winner Stefano Manzi (Yamaha), third place for the polesitter Bo Bendsneyder (MV Agusta).

Phillip Island is a proving ground for tyre selection
 
“It was an extremely intense week, one in which the tyres were used in very different conditions, both with cooler or average asphalt temperatures, as in testing and today, and very high ones as on Saturday. This allowed us to gather useful information on the behaviour of the new tyres we had selected for this round. There was heavy rain overnight between Saturday and Sunday which led to a reset of the track evolution and loss of the rubber deposited on the track in recent days. At the same time, however, today’s temperatures were significantly lower than Saturday’s which benefitted tyre performance, and also explains why today’s race times were faster than yesterday. Once again, Phillip Island showed itself to be an excellent proving ground for taking the tyres to the limit and assessing their behaviour in a variety of situations. This is certainly a particularly variable circuit, where the asphalt temperatures have a significant impact on the performance of the tyres, which are put to the test in the heat. Congratulations to Bulega and Ducati who practically monopolised the superbike podiums of this Australian weekend.”https://media.lulop.com/media/getbanner/SV4GfFMFSljr1L.jpg