Saturday's action for the UK Round ended with a podium finish for Alvaro Bautista and fourth place for Nicolò Bulega, who had to surrender in the final after defending second place for more than half the race.
Bautista is forced to start from 11th position as the lap that gave him the fifth time was cancelled, for exceeding "track limits."
The Spanish rider bet on the rear SCX tire and the choice proved right: from the first third of the race, he began to lap with an extremely incisive pace that allowed him to recover eight positions and conquer the podium.
Bulega is second on the grid but the start is not perfect. The reaction of the Italian rider is immediate, however, and on lap 5, he overtakes Redding to conquer the second position. The race pace of Razgatlioglu (BMW) is impregnable and Bulega tries to defend his second place despite the non excellent feeling with the front. With 10 laps to go comes the overtaking of Lowes (Kawasaki) and in the final stages the one of his teammate.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #1)
"At the end, I can say I had fun starting from a position that was not easy. The choice of rear tyre gave me an advantage even though in the first laps it was necessary not to force the pace so as not to ruin the tyre. We did what we could even if it is clear that we are far from the last year's levels. It will be important tomorrow to recover positions also in SPR to start further ahead."
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #11)
"I am quite satisfied even if this weekend the feeling with the bike is not at the level of the previous rounds. I had some problems on the front but that didn't prevent me from having a good race even because this was my first time at Donington with the Panigale V4R."
WorldSSP
Dominant victory for Adrian Huertas who after a not-brilliant start from the Pole Position took back the first position already in the first lap to close with a margin under the checkered flag. It is the third consecutive victory for the Spanish rider in WorldSSP
Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WSSP #99)
"I'm very happy with this race. We are doing a great job and I thank the team once again for how they solved the problems we experienced yesterday morning. I'm not thinking about the standings but just about still having a good race tomorrow."