Recapping the opening day of WorldSBK/SSP/300 Practice at Misano

WorldSBK 2025

Round Six – Misano – Friday

Nicolò Bulega – P1

“We made a small step forward from FP1 to FP2 and my feeling with the bike improved. It’s still not quite enough for the race because there are a few areas where I’m not riding exactly how I want. We need to find something more but, overall, we have a good package even if I’m still not at 100%. We tested here recently but the conditions now are very different. It’s much hotter and there is less grip so we need to adapt the bike. It’s not the same as during the test but we’re working well and I believe we can make another step tomorrow.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu – P2

“We’ve started the weekend well and our pace isn’t bad but Nicolo is very fast too. In FP2, when I went out with a second new tyre, I had a strange feeling. There was no grip and I couldn’t understand why. We have one more session and if we can improve just a bit we can fight for the win. I think that maybe Alvaro will join the fight too because he’s usually strong here. I’m still having to fight a bit with the bike but we’re improving track by track. I’m still pushing and still working hard. I hope we make the right changes so I can ride more comfortably tomorrow. Let’s see if it’s another fight with Bulega.”

Alvaro Bautista – P3

“We started today with a setup based on the recent test and I felt quite good on the bike this morning. In the afternoon, with the higher temperatures, I tried the harder front compound but I didn’t feel comfortable. I lacked front grip, especially mid-corner, so we went back to the softer front. I also did a long run. The feeling wasn’t terrible but I was missing rear grip. I think we need to make some changes for tomorrow. Today was a solid start, we were just three tenths off in FP1 and we had consistent lap times. In FP2, we were nine tenths off Bulega, so now we need to close that gap.”

Yari Montella – P4

“IIt was a positive day. In FP1 I struggled a bit because track conditions were different from the tests and it took me some time to adapt. In the afternoon, running the long race configuration, I was lapping in the 1.34.1 range with room to improve. Towards the end, I tried the qualifying tyre to see how it behaves over distance. Now we’ll focus on preparing for the Superpole.”

Remy Gardner – P5

“It was definitely a rollercoaster of a day. The feeling on the bike wasn’t bad, but the front tyre option we tested in the afternoon didn’t work out. I’m sorry for the team about the two crashes, but luckily I’m fine and ready to race. The positive is that we know we have the speed — now we just need to put everything together, starting from Superpole. I’m confident we can have a strong Saturday.”

Danilo Petrucci – P6

“Today we solved the issues we had during testing. We’re not the fastest yet, there’s still work to do, but I feel much more confident heading into the race. A good qualifying will be crucial to start up front and stay with the lead group. The gap is there and it won’t be easy, but the goal is to finish in the top 5. With high temperatures expected, it will be physically demanding, especially when it comes to managing the rear tyre.”

Andrea Locatelli – P7

“Basically, I think we did a great job – especially this afternoon in the hot conditions. I am happy with the balance of the bike and I feel comfortable on my R1. For sure, we are still missing something and we need to try to improve to close a bit the gap to the top but we are not completely far away. With respect to the test, the conditions are quite different but the feeling with the bike and the work that we did during the test was good. Let’s try to make another step for tomorrow, make a good qualifying because it is important here – and then we have 21 laps fighting with the hot track and warm air temperature, so it will be quite difficult for sure. But, we know we can manage well – so keep looking forward and I believe that we can do a great job tomorrow.”

Alex Lowes – P8

“A hot day one in Misano, a lot hotter conditions than we had in the recent Misano test. We worked really hard in the test trying to develop the bike and try some new parts. Today we really focused on the settings for Misano itself. I really enjoyed riding the bike and I felt quite good, I was just missing a bit of performance compared to the first four or five guys. I did a long run, felt pretty good, tried some things on the bike, and we have a good direction for the first raceday tomorrow. I think the new colours on the bike look great so let’s see if we can make a little step forward for Superpole and then Race One.”

Dominique Aegerter – P9

“It was a demanding Friday, but overall, there are positives to take. We focused mostly on race pace and long-run consistency. I’m happy we improved from morning to afternoon, especially considering the much hotter conditions. We’ll keep pushing to find a bit more speed for tomorrow — I believe we can fight at the front if we continue working this way.”

Andrea Iannone – P10

“The conditions changed a lot compared to the test, the heat has decreased the grip on the asphalt and we had to readjust our set-up. In the afternoon we made a step forward, I felt better especially in turning the bike. We are all very close, but we still have some areas to improve, I worked with race tyres without looking for the time. Tomorrow the qualifying will be important, let’s see what we can achieve on Saturday”

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 Axel Bassani – P11

“The first day in Misano was quite good. And hot. We tried some things in FP1 and we went out with the same bike set-up as we had in the recent Misano test. The feeling was the same, and the lap time also. In the second free practice we tried something in the front. For me was better, but now we have some issues on the rear. We will check the data now. The race pace seems quite similar from P3 to P11, with the same lap times. It will be a hard race on Saturday and we will have to fight a lot – but we will enjoy it.”

Iker Lecuona – P12

“Conditions were quite tough today, very different compared to the test in that it’s been much hotter. We started with the base setup that worked well for us during the May test, but this morning I had a lot of chatter at the front, something we didn’t experience during testing. I knew the track conditions wouldn’t be the same, but the feeling on the bike was also different compared to last year’s race. So we decided to switch back to a base closer to the ‘standard’. I spent a lot of time in the garage today, but we weren’t focusing on lap times. The priority was finding the right direction. In the afternoon, we worked more on electronics, which helped a bit, but I was still lacking confidence, especially with front feeling and braking in the hot conditions. The team made further changes to help me in terms of corner entry and stopping the bike. We actually improved, and I started to feel better on the bike, but unfortunately, I had a small crash at Turn 4. I almost saved it, but the bike ended up in the gravel and did just one loop. It wasn’t destroyed, but it was banged up, so I had to spend a lot of time in the garage. I tried to exit as fast as possible but only managed to do one more lap at the end, just to check the bike. I’m not worried about today’s position though as some riders used a Q tyre, while we stayed on the same set throughout the session. So overall, I’m not frustrated as I know today doesn’t reflect our real potential. Let’s see how things go tomorrow.”

Garrett Gerloff – P17

“It was definitely hot today and I do not feel bad on the bike. Which is why I am frustrated. I feel like in three of the track sectors it is not horrible but in one sector I am just way off. I shouldn’t be as far back as I am but we are trying to find a solution in that area to make the bike better. I hope on Saturday we can make that jump and be closer to the front.”

Jonathan Rea – P18

“Tough start to my day which put us on the back foot because we had a technical problem in the morning that kept me in the box. Fortunately, the mechanics worked incredibly hard and I was able to get a lap at the end of the session to verify the bike was ok and give us some confidence to move on in the afternoon. Unfortunately, FP2 we didn’t make much progress with the set-up as temperatures rose and the track felt different, a bit greasy, and I really struggled with a lot of chatter and understeer. It was hard to be precise, I couldn’t stop like I want to and be on the correct part of the circuit. I tried to take a wheel to understand what other riders were doing, but the more I tried, the worse it got. Definitely room for improvement tomorrow and very disappointed with today.”

Xavi Vierge – P19

“It hasn’t been easy, but we were already expecting that. The pain isn’t too bad, which is very positive. But of course, it’s been three weeks that I’ve barely used that foot, so I’ve lost a lot of strength and confidence. Still, I believe things will improve as the weekend goes on. Naturally, this also affects the feeling with the bike. From the beginning, the sensation hasn’t been great, but I’ve worked a lot with the team, and already in FP2—in hotter conditions—I felt much better. I started to regain confidence on the bike. We’re still missing some speed compared to the others who tested here for two full days, but we managed to close the gap, and most likely, they don’t have the same margin for improvement that we still do. That’s why we focused on ourselves today. Overall, it’s been a very positive day for me. We didn’t worry about the result, we just worked on building up the weekend in the best way possible. This afternoon, I’ll continue working on my recovery to be in the best shape tomorrow, and together with the team we’ll try to take another small step forward. As for treatment, I’m applying a lot of ice to control the swelling and also using massage therapy to help reduce it. So far, it’s not too bad.”

Tarran Mackenzie – P21

“In FP1 I had similar feeling to the recent test and so I knew I wanted to change something for the second practice. We did this, returning to the bike we used at Assen, and it immediately felt different, of course, but gave me a little more of the feeling and confidence I was looking for. So that was good. It’s very hot and greasy out there and I was able to set a faster time than I did during testing, so quite a good Friday, in which we saw improvement. There’s still work to do but we’re a little closer so hopefully we can continue moving in this direction and have a better today tomorrow.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi – P23

“I missed the recent test and everyone else is very fast of course. So today I tried to concentrate on learning the track and understanding the bike’s performance here, and we saw improvement with every exit. The final sector of the track is quite tricky though, so we need to find some more speed there. Hopefully we can do that tomorrow as we continue to make some adjustments to the bike. I want to say a big thank you to the team as they’ve done a good job today. We’ll keep working and see what we can do tomorrow.”

Friday WorldSBK Report

The Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli basked under the sun on Friday with the opening sessions of the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round.

With high temperatures of over 30C WorldSBK heads into the summer season in scorching conditions.

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) led the way on the opening day at Misano. The Italian traded blows with Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) throughout the day with Toprak landing the first blow to lead in FP1 before Bulega set the fastest time of the day with a 1’32.722. In the afternoon session they traded fastest times four times.

At their home round Ducati enjoyed a strong start to the weekend with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) third fastest while the Barni Spark Racing Team pairing of Yari Montella and Danilo Petrucci were fourth and sixth fastest.

Remy Gardner was the leading Yamaha rider but the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team rider crashed twice in the afternoon with a hefty crash at Turn 13 bringing an end to his day.

Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani offered a strong showing for bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team with both setting strong times. Lowes ended the day seventh fastest.

WorldSBK Combined Practice Times

WorldSBK Championship Points

WorldSSP Superpole

A string of fast laps was rewarded with a first Superpole for Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) at Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli. It will be a first career front row start for the Spaniard who was also a race winner at the previous round in Most.

Jaume Masia – P1

“I’m really happy with the feeling from today. We’re still improving and working really well on the bike and the setup. It’s always a pleasure to start from the front row and it will help during the first laps tomorrow. We’ll try to take full advantage of that. Of course, the end of the race will be tough with the temperature and rear tyre wear but that’s what we need to prepare for. We’ll keep working to be ready.”

On his first outing of the season Matteo Casadei (Motozoo ME air Racing) qualified on the front row of the grid but was just over one tenth of a second behind Masia.

A Turn 16 crash cost Stefano Manzi time during the session. The Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing Team did well to get the championship leader back on track and he set his personal best times at the end of the session. Unfortunately a yellow flag at Turn 14, for a Lucas Mahias (GMT-94 YAMAHA) crash, saw his fifth fastest time of the session deleted and he will start from the fourth row of the grid.

Can Oncu (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team) was the fastest rider of all in Sector 1 but over the course of 19 laps he was only able to set the fifth fastest time. The Turkish’s riders Superpole form has been strong this year and this continued an unbroken run of top five qualifying efforts.

Oli Bayliss (PTR Triumph) was 12th quickest on Friday while countrymen Luke Power (Motozoo ME air Racing)  ranked 30th and Harrison Voight joined the WorldSSP field on the EAB Ducati at the back of the 34-rider entry list.

WorldSSP Superpole Times

WorldSSP Championship Points

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WorldSSP300 Superpole

Four rounds into the WorldSSP300 season and Antonio Torres has become the fourth different rider to claim a pole position this season. The Team ProDina XCI rider set the fastest time 1’49.152 to lead the way by over one tenth of a second.

Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) – P1

“I’m very happy. This is my first pole position in WorldSSP300 and it feels incredible! It’s a great result for my team and we did a good job today. Free practice was difficult because my teammates, Julio Garcia and David Salvador, were very strong. Superpole was intense because Salvador was fast and he was right there. It’s amazing to be the fastest but the group will be big tomorrow. I expect that the pace will be fast and it will be a hard race.”

With the Kawasaki on pole position there will be three different manufacturers on the front row ahead of Yamaha’s Matteo Vannucci (PATA AG Motorsport Italia WorldSSP300) and Benat Fernandez (Team#109 Retro Traffic Kove).

Championship leader Jeffrey Buis (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) will start from the third row of the grid. The double World Champion qualified one position ahead of Juan Risueno (MS Racing) who had his best Superpole performance of the season to qualify eighth fastest.

Carter Thompson rounded out the top ten.

WorldSSP300 Superpole Times

2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship Calendar