Day One of Superbike World Championship testing at Jerez ended with Nicolo Bulega topping the timesheets with a 1:38.142 early in the day. Aruba.it Ducati teammate Alvaro Bautista was second quickest, with American Garrett Gerloff third. World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu was absent, as were Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone. Bimota by KRT fielded test rider Florian Marino on a number of different machines, but contracted factory riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani did not take part in the day’s testing.

BMW had limited upgrades for the test and wrapped up early. Test riders Sylvain Guintoli and Marcus Reiterberger put in miles on new specification engines ahead of next week’s test at MotorLand Aragon. At least part of BMW’s remarkable turnaround in performance in 2024 has to be attributed to the work of the test team that the company put into place at the beginning of the season. Guintoli’s experience as a two-time World Champion (WorldSBK and FIM Endurance World Championship) had to be invaluable to the development of the M 1000 RR. Razgatlioglu and factory BMW teammate Michael van der Mark are expected to ride at Aragon.

Bautista put in 85 laps, more than anyone, and suffered a small crash early in the day. Bautista’s best time was a 1:39.567. Ryan Vickers made his World Superbike debut on the Motocorsa satellite Ducati Panigale V4 R, finishing fifth with a 1:40.922.

Factory HRC rider Iker Lecuona was absent due to a broken foot suffered during race weekend, so teammate Xavi Vierge led the Honda test efforts. Tarran Mackenzie, HRC test rider Tetsuta Nagashima and former British Superbike Champion Tommy Bridewell all put in laps on a variety of CBR 1000RR-R machines.  

Bulega set his fast lap early on, and then set aside the Pirelli SCQ, the softest tire Pirelli had available, and focused on race pace.