Ducati Sporting Club UK > News Items > Ducati Press Releases > Bittersweet Sunday for the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team at Assen. Bautista second on the podium in Race-2. Bulega forced to retire two laps from end

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World Superbike | 2025 | R3 | Assen (Netherlands) | Sunday 13 April 2025

Bittersweet Sunday for the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team at Assen. Bautista second on the podium in Race-2. Bulega forced to retire two laps from the end while leading.

Sunday at the Pirelli Dutch Round ends with mixed emotions for the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team.

Alvaro Bautista takes his Ducati Panigale V4R to Parc Ferme twice (P3 in SPR and P2 in Race-2), achieving essential results after his mistake on Saturday.
Nicolò Bulega was forced to retire twice due to technical problems. Starting from tenth position in Race 2, the Italian rider is the protagonist of a sensational comeback. After taking the lead of the race after a good duel with Locatelli (Yamaha), Bulega administered the advantage, but with two laps to go, he had to stop.

Bautista, who started from fifth position, led Race-2 for eight laps before engaging in an intense duel with Locatelli (Yamaha) and Gardner (Yamaha) to finish in second.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #19)
"It was a positive Sunday after yesterday's crash. If I have to be honest, I didn't have as good a feeling today as I did in Race 1. The track conditions in Superpole Race were very difficult and in Race 2 I could not have a race pace to fight for the win. We still picked up important points for the classification".

Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #11)
"I don't have much to say. It was a challenging day. We had some problems that made us lose a lot of important points for the championship. In Race 2 I had a lot of fun, I did a lot of overtaking, I was one step away from victory. The certainty remains that we were very competitive".