Ducati Sporting Club UK > News Items > Ducati Press Releases > Bulega third in free practice at Cremona. Bautista sixth and 'fit to race' for the weekend. Huertas is on top form and will start from pole position

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World Superbike | 2024 | R9 | Cremona | Italy | Friday 20 September 2024

Bulega third in free practice at Cremona. Bautista sixth and 'fit to race' for the weekend. Huertas is on top form and will start from pole position in WorldSSP

Free practice for the Italian Round, the ninth round of the 2024 WorldSBK season, ended with third place for Nicolò Bulega and sixth for Alvaro Bautista.

With the track still very damp after the overnight rain, the Italian rider preferred to stay in the pits (as did other riders) during FP1 and concentrate his work in FP2 when the track was dry.
Bulega completed 24 laps, setting the third fastest time at 1'29.836, 151 thousandths of a second behind Lowes (Kawasaki).

Alvaro Bautista took to the track in FP1 on rain tyres to test his physical condition. At the end of the session, the medical staff declared him “Fit to Race”. In the afternoon, the Spanish rider worked on set-up and tyres, improving lap after lap to close sixth with a lap time of 1'30.020.

Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #11)
"I can't say I'm delighted with how things went today as I struggled to find a good feeling. I'll have to adapt my riding style to this track, but I'm sure that thanks to the team's work, we can take a significant step forward tomorrow".

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #1)
"I'm happy with both the work we've done and the feeling I had riding the bike. I needed to understand how my body could react after the Magny-Cours injury, and the feeling, lap after lap, has grown steadily. I am confident that I can do even better tomorrow".

WorldSSP

Adrian Huertas is immediately at ease with the Ducati Panigale of the Aruba.it Racing WSSP team. After finishing first in the morning free practice, he repeated his performance in the afternoon, taking a clear Pole Position.

Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WSSP #99)
"I think it's impossible to do better than what we did today. As always, though, Friday's results don't bring any points in the standings, and after two not-easy rounds, the only objective is to return to victory".