Free Practice 1 for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship concluded with the top two in the Championship separated by just 0.022s. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed the advantage over Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in the opening session for the Prometeon Spanish Round as he secured P1 by the smallest of margins, while 14 riders were separated by 0.831s as the field shapes up for an epic season finale.
Razgatlioglu was quick in his first run but was overhauled by Bulega after the #11 opted to complete a longer first run, when he set a 1’39.744s on the third-last lap of that run to beat his title rival by just 0.022s as their title-deciding weekend started in favour of the Ducati rider. Razgatlioglu completed three short stints in FP1 as the pair opted for different strategies. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) secured P3 with a 1’39.967s, the final rider in the 1’39s bracket, with ‘The Maniac’ setting his best lap time following Bulega.
Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) comes into Jerez fresh from his best weekend of the season at Estoril and he continued that in FP1, putting in a late lap of 1’40.048s to move into P4 and only a few tenths away from Bulega’s pace. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) continued Honda’s strong run with fifth after being demoted by the #65 inti P5, but his 1’40.241s was enough to ensure four different manufacturers in the top five. He was a tenth ahead of Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) in sixth after the #14 lapped 0.603s slower than Bulega.
It was a close session in FP1, with Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) in seventh but only 0.002s behind Sam Lowes, while he was half-a-tenth quicker than Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) in eighth. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was ninth as he completed 21 laps, the joint-highest number in the session, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in P10.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) once again enjoyed a strong start, as he did last week in Portugal, as he finished 11th while Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was 12th. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) completed 10 times laps – the fewest of anyone – with a clutch issue hampering his running during the first 30 minutes, but he returned to the track with around 15 minutes remaining and set a 1’40.569s to finish 0.006s clear of Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) in 14th; Gerloff was 0.831s down on Bulega’s time but the 14th and final rider within a second of the #11.
The top six from WorldSBK FP1:
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’39.744s
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.022s
3. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) +0.223s
4. Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +0.304s
5. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +0.497s
6. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.603s
