Bulega and Toprak trade fastest laps at Misano Test – Gardner top Yamaha

WorldSBK 2025
Misano Test

Most of the WorldSBK paddock descended on Misano this week for a two-day test ahead of the championship reconvening at the Italian venue for the Emilia-Romagna round being staged over the weekend of June 15.

Little separated the top two men in the championship standings at the end of the test.  Despite missing the opening day of the test, Nicolo Bulega wasted little time in asserting his dominance on home soil, joining Toprak Razgatlioglu well under the circuit record before topping proceedings with a 1m32.093s. The margin though only a slender four-hundredths.

There was then a significant seven-tenths of a second back to a tightly packed rest of the field.

Bimota’s Axel Bassani was third quickest ahead of Sam Lowes on the Marc VDS Ducati.

Axel Bassani

“It has been a good two days of testing. We tried some items to understand which way we should take for race weekend. It was also good because it was hot during the test and I think it will be really hot during race weekend. Usually, it is more difficult for us when the temperature is high. The race pace was not so bad in the final afternoon and we also tried to focus on the one lap time attack, which is usually my problem. The feeling was not bad. We are not really, really fast but at the same time we are not slow. So, I think we will start from a positive point to have a good race weekend at Misano.”

Remy Gardner was the quickest Yamaha in fifth. Instead of heading home after the test the Australian headed to Austria to finalise his preparations to contest the iconic Erzberg Rodoe off-road event this weekend on a YZ250.

Remy Gardner

“Overall, it was a really positive test. We managed to try several new things, and having stable weather helped us complete consistent runs across both days. The lap time was strong too, which is crucial because solid qualifying performances are key to building better races. There’s still some work to do, but we gathered a lot of good data to carry into the race weekend and beyond.”

Yari Montella outpaced his Barni Spark Racing team-mate Danilo Petrucci on both days to finish the test ahead of Iker Lecuona and Jonathan Rea.

Yari Montella

“It was an intense and positive two days. We completed a lot of laps and tried many new things — some convinced me more, others less. On the afternoon of the second day, we had a good session with race tires, and we were quite fast, even faster than I expected. The only area we still need to work on is qualifying tyres, as we’re currently struggling more than expected. Now we will focus in the coming days to understand what we can improve for the race weekend.”

Iker Lecuona

“I’m quite happy overall. I know it may sound a bit strange but this was actually my first proper full test of the season so far, including the winter period when I was always injured or recovering. We had two days to ‘play’ with our base setup, making a few adjustments. Over a race weekend, we’ve sometimes experimented with a few things during FP2 but often ended up losing the entire session. On Tuesday, we started with the base setup we used at Cremona and Most, making minimal changes to address the front-end drop issue we typically encounter towards the end of races, and the results were promising. Even on well-worn tires, I felt comfortable and was among the fastest, consistently riding solo, even on the second bike. Of course we must consider that the grip was excellent with perfect temperatures—not too hot or cold—so conditions certainly helped. On Wednesday, temperatures were slightly warmer, and we struggled a bit once the grip deteriorated during the hottest part of the day. Still, I’m satisfied with the effort we put in to mitigate the issue. At the end of the day, we switched to two soft tyres and managed some decent laps. I’m pleased with our progress and am looking forward to seeing how things go when we return in a few weeks, likely in different conditions.”

Jonathan Rea

“It’s been a good day, we ticked all the boxes that we wanted to go through: test items, race simulation, time attacks and with some time to spare. It’s nice having two days where you’re not under pressure like a race weekend – also to try some things that you wouldn’t maybe try during an event. I really improved my feeling on the R1 and set personal-best qualifying times and also race tyre times. For sure, there is still more work to do to close the gap, but I think we’ve improved our set-up. I felt strong on the bike and did more than 100 laps today, and we’re just improving things step-by-step. Massive thanks to all the crew, they worked incredibly hard over the two days, changing many items with no complaints, no mistakes. Looking forward to coming back in a few weeks’ time and getting down to business.”

Danilo Petrucci

“These were important tests with a lot to try. Unfortunately, we didn’t find solutions that worked straight away, which cost us some time. We managed to work well only in the afternoon of the second day, but that limited our speed somewhat. We’re still trying to close the gap to the leaders by exploring every possible option. We had some doubts that we wanted to clarify, and luckily these tests gave us the chance to do that.”

Andrea Locatelli rounded out the top ten ahead of Alvaro Bautista, Alex Lowes and Andrea Iannone.

Andrea Locatelli

“Overall, we were working a lot on the R1 and we found a good base set-up – I was able in the end to improve a bit with the qualifying tyre. In the end, not so far on race pace, we need to try to improve a bit more but we’re looking forward for the race weekend which will be another story! It will be different, we’ll be on track on the same tyre for everyone – so the goal is to keep pushing in this direction and try to make another step. We know where we are struggling, so we will keep working and try to arrive with the best set-up. We will push hard during the race weekend to get the maximum that we can.”

Alex Lowes

“We tried a lot of things on the bike and did about 110 laps on day two. So we have been working hard. We tried some things that were good, some things that were not so good and we also tried a qualifying tyre during my best lap. That was a 1’33.2, which was not too bad. We have not quite got the feeling we need so I have to put everything together now for race weekend. It is difficult sometimes to get the rhythm, so we need to analyse the data and make a step forward for race weekend. I feel like in certain parts of the track I need a couple of tenths but in other parts I am quite strong and consistent. The guys have worked really hard and I have enjoyed riding here at Misano.”

Andrea Iannone

“Today was a bit more complicated on a physical level, my foot started to hurt and I struggled to apply force. However, we found a great solution, especially in the early afternoon, which allowed us to improve both the time and my feeling on the bike. We used race tyres for the whole test, without looking for a time attack. I’m positive and quite satisfied with the work done, today we took a step forward and I’m confident that we can still find something for the race.”

Tommy Bridewell stood in for the injured Xavi Vierge to supplement HRC’s testing effort.

Petronas MIE Racing Honda Team’s Tarran Mackenzie was joined on track this week by substitute rider Ivo Lopes, who stood in for permanent entry Zaqhwan Zaidi, who was unable to test due to a previous commitment in Asia. Portuguese rider Lopes was the obvious choice for the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team, in that he already served as a substitute rider last season and has good knowledge of the CBR1000RR-R.

Tarran Mackenzie

“We focused on trying to iron a few things out in preparation for the next few races, and it’s not gone badly. We’ve learned a lot and have tried a number of different things, like a new fuel tank, a bit of geometry, some electronic updates and a few other items. It’s still quite hard to understand the feeling and what works well, but I’d say we’re moving in a better direction heading into the Misano round than we were before we got here, so that’s good. Now I’ll head home and focus on preparing as well as I can for the next races.”

Ivo Lopes

“First, I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to ride; it’s always great to be on track with the WorldSBK field and I’ve really enjoyed it. On Tuesday, I took a little time to adapt to the bike and to the Misano track, as I’d only ridden here once before, a long time ago. We worked generally on the setting, and I think it went better than expected. We identified something of a path to take, but there’s only so much you can do over two days of course. We completed a lot of laps anyway, and I’m pleased. Again, a big thank you to the team.”

World Supersport championship leader Stefano Manzi enjoyed a productive test with the Yamaha Motor Europe Motorsport Research and Development Test Team in making his debut on the YZF-R1M. Alongside his WorldSBK peers, the Italian completed 103 laps aboard the R1 WorldSBK test machine in Wednesday’s running. Manzi only rode for the second day of the two-day test, with Yamaha WorldSBK test rider Jason O’Halloran aboard the R1 on Tuesday.  Manzi will return to his ‘day job’ with the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing team for Round 6 of the FIM Supersport World Championship at Misano in two weeks’ time, where he’ll be looking to further increase his 40-point championship lead.

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Stefano Manzi

“I think that was one of the best days in my life! It was amazing, I was working with a super team with the Yamaha Test Team and I got to spend my first day riding a Superbike! It was not easy, because there is a big difference with the Supersport bike but luckily I was able to adapt quite quickly. We made progress from the morning, which was the goal from the day – to continue to grow during the day and this is what we did. I am quite happy, and the team are happy too! I enjoyed riding the bike a lot, and the gap to the other Yamaha riders is not so bad considering I have only had one day on the bike – I was quite sad when I saw the chequered flag as I didn’t want the day to end!”

Talking about WorldSSP… There have been shuffles in the Supersport paddock this week with Federico Caricasulo splitting with the MotoZoo Me AIR squad under what they are calling ‘mutual agreement’, and the team expect to announce a replacement ahead of the next round of the championship.

Elsewhere, Team D34G Racing and Glenn van Straalen have jointly decided to terminate their agreement for the 2025 edition of the WorldSSP Championship. After a promising start to the offseason, with great feeling aboard the team’s Panigale V2 955 machine, in the opening session of the Phillip Island official test, the 24-year-old from Hoogkarspel, the Netherlands, lost control of his Ducati machine due to no fault of his own, after running on oil left on track by an opponent bike ahead of him – along with other competitors. After extensive medical checks, he was diagnosed with a concussion.

WorldSBK Combined Testing Times

WorldSSP Combined Testing Times

WorldSBK Championship Points