Ducati Sporting Club UK > News Items > Ducati Press Releases > Rain hampers Portimao test. Only half a day of intense activity for Bulega and Bautista at the Portuguese track.

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World Superbike | 2025 | Test | Portimao (Portugal) | Wednesday 29 January 2025

Rain hampers Portimao test. Only half a day of intense activity for Bulega and Bautista at the Portuguese track.

Like last week at Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), bad weather affected the two-day test at Portimao (Portugal).

Alvaro Bautista and Nicolò Bulega were forced to ride only in the afternoon session on Day 1. At the same time, on Day 2 the track activity in dry conditions was limited to a few minutes.

Nicolò Bulega finished in third place on Day 1 with a time of 1'40.748, just 98 thousandths off Razgatlioglu's best time, but was unable to make the most of his time attack due to some traffic that slowed him down in the first sector.

Alvaro Bautista continued the set-up work at Jerez de la Frontera, recording the 12th fastest time (1'42.141) without using the soft tyre. On Day 2, the Spanish rider tried to take to the track in the morning, but after a few laps, first on slick tyres and then on rain tyres, he crashed, without any particular consequences, at Turn 9.


Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #11)
"I am pretty happy with what we did at Portimao, even though the weather didn't allow us to do all the planned work. The feeling with the bike is positive, even if it is still not 100%. However, I am satisfied with the race pace I managed to keep, even though there are still a few details to iron out. I could have done better on the time attack if I hadn't found traffic on the track".

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #19)
"Unfortunately, the conditions were challenging again in this test. However, we did some good work comparing the setup of the bikes. The crash was scary, but at the same time, I'm happy that I didn't get hurt".