After a positive start yesterday, the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team successfully concluded the winter tests at Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), the last ones before the break. In ideal weather conditions, Bautista and Davies clocked 64 and 62 laps respectively, posting the 4th and 5th best time in the combined rankings.

Bautista, who enjoyed a strong debut on the Panigale V4 R yesterday, started to work on the setup to finish in fourth position overall with a 1:39.845, a tenth of a second faster than yesterday. Davies, who finished only 7 thousandths of a second behind his teammate, ran several comparisons with a focus on electronics to post a 1:39.852, four tenths faster than his best time on Monday.


Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #19)

"Today we started to make some changes to the setup to see how the bike reacts, and we found some positives as well as some room for improvement. In terms of pace, we've improved a lot as I was able to lap consistently in the 1'40 mark, while on the flying lap I felt there was less grip even though track conditions were a bit better in theory. I still need to understand the limits of the tires, anyway. In general, we've completed our program and I'm happy with how these first two days went."

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #7)

"It was a positive test. We learned quite a lot about the bike, and we have a better understanding of what we need to focus on during the winter break to improve the package. We took several sets of tires to race distance and also tried a new swingarm with positive feedback, but in general the main thing at this stage is to avoid confusion, and I think we have pretty clear idea of the direction we need to go in. We have a lot of information to process, now we just need to put it together. I will undergo surgery next week on my injured shoulder, and then I'll resume training to make sure to be 100 percent fit come next test."