Ducati Sporting Club UK > News Items > Ducati Press Releases > Bulega leads the way on Day 1 at Donington despite a harmless crash in FP2. Bautista eleventh.

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World Superbike | 2025 | R7 | Donington (UK) | Friday 11 July 2025

Bulega leads the way on Day 1 at Donington despite a harmless crash in FP2. Bautista eleventh.

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."