Day 1 at Donington despite Ducati’s crash in FP2

Friday at Donington ends with Nicolò Bulega in first place. Alvaro Bautista finished eleventh, half a second behind his teammate.
However, it was a rather tricky Friday for the Italian rider, who had to deal with a minor technical issue in FP1, while in FP2, after setting the best time of the day in 1’26.342, he was involved in a harmless crash that forced him to remain in the pits for a long time.

Bautista carried out his usual work focused on tyre selection, testing both solutions brought by Pirelli. The Spanish rider finished eleventh on the day with a time of 1’26.939.

Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #11)
“Regardless of what happened first in FP1 and then in FP2, I can say that I am delighted with the feeling I managed to find from the first laps this morning. Crashing is never pleasant, but doing so knowing that I was pushing the limit is still something I can consider positive. I thank the team for the extraordinary work they did, allowing me to get back on track in the last 10 minutes of FP2”.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #19)
“It wasn’t an easy day. In FP1, I didn’t feel comfortable with the softer tyre, and we tried to make some changes to the set-up, but they didn’t bring the desired results. In the afternoon, when we went out on the track with the harder tyre, things went a little better. We need to improve ahead of Superpole because it will be essential to create the conditions to be able to start at the front.”  

2026 Newest Bike Reviews

TMW 2026 Motorcycle Model Review Guides
About Michael Le Pard 12020 Articles
"Mr. Totalmotorcycle". Owner and Founder of Total Motorcycle, the World’s Largest Motorcycle Site with over 425 million readers since 1999. Total Motorcycle is my pride and joy and being able to reach 425 million people has been incredible and I could not have done it without the support of my visitors, readers and members...thank you so much! We are all making a difference to millions of riders worldwide.