The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team got back to work at the Magny-Cours circuit (France) after the long summer break.
The Friday free practice session for the Pirelli French Round, the ninth event of the 2023 WorldSBK season, closed with a solid second place in the combined standings for Michael Rinaldi – who also set the fastest time in FP2 – and sixth place for Alvaro Bautista, who made significant progress in the afternoon despite the much higher temperature that made the track less performing than in the morning.
Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #21)
“Definitely an interesting Friday during which we worked well and managed to improve compared to the morning. In the afternoon, despite the really high and unusual temperature for this circuit, we tried different solutions, also on the tyres, which could be useful for the weekend races. I’m confident and I will try my best to obtain good results”.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #1)
“I’m satisfied with what we did on this first day, also because I arrived at Magny-Cours in less than optimal conditions due to a stomach virus. Fortunately, since this morning things have been improving and this allowed me to do the usual Friday setup work, trying to find the best feeling with the bike without looking at the Chrono”.
- WorldSSP
Nicolò Bulega and the Ducati Panigale V2 of the Aruba.it Racing WSSP Team (P3 in FP1 – P1 in FP2) closed in second place Friday’s free practices at Magny-Cours.
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WSSP #11)
“I’m pretty happy with how things went today, especially because we’re back at racing after a long break. The feeling with the bike is good; it is clear, though, that we still have work to do in order to fix some details that will allow us to be even more competitive, especially in these very particular conditions”.
