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It took Nicolò Bulega to hold Ducati aloft on this first day of testing in Portimao, affected by the wind and rain that fell throughout the morning. Difficult conditions, which did not, however, prevent the 25-year-old from Emilia from placing his Panigale V4 in the top part of the standings and ending Tuesday with the third fastest time and a time of only 98 thousandths of a second away from the benchmark set by Razgatlioglu.
"I am quite happy with this first day of testing here in Portimao. I felt pretty good on the bike, even if the sensations are still not perfect - commented Bulega - I am happy with the race pace I had, but we have to improve a bit in some points of the track. The feeling anyway is good and it's a pity that I found traffic when I was riding the SCQ and couldn't make a better time, which was within my reach. It's okay though, because it's only testing and I'm still happy."
Further behind was two-time Superbike champion Alvaro Bautista. Committed to finding the right set-up of his Panigale, the 40-year-old Spaniard remained outside the Top 10, accusing a delay from the top of 1"5.
"The conditions today were quite difficult because it was too cold, there were some wet patches and also a lot of wind. We decided to try a different set-up of the bike and we basically spent this half-day comparing the two set-ups," the Ducati rider commented, trying to look at the glass half full: "We found something positive in one of the set-ups, although it was not easy. The sensations were not the best, but we collected a lot of data."
