The weekend of the Pirelli Dutch Round, third event of the 2023 WorldSBK season, enters by right in the history of Aruba.it Racing and Ducati.
Alvaro Bautista and Nicolò Bulega in fact, won all the races held at TTCircuit of Assen (Netherland) both in WorldSBK and WorldSSP, taking their respective Pole Positions and setting all the fastest laps, as well as setting new circuit records.
An extraordinary haul on the same day of the historic 400 Ducati victories in the World Superbike Championship, a milestone cut by the Spaniard in Race 2.
At the end of the Pirelli Dutch Round, Alvaro Bautista is firmly first in the standings with 174 points, 56 more than Razgatlioglu (Yamaha). There is also a wide margin for Nicolò Bulega, the leader in WorldSSP with 127 points, 37 more than Manzi (Yamaha).
It was a difficult weekend, however, for Michael Rinaldi, who nevertheless gritted his teeth in Race 2 and brought home the Top 10.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #1)
“It has been an exciting weekend and I am very happy to have put my signature on such an important milestone as the 400th victory for Ducati in Superbike. I’m also really happy because we even managed to improve on yesterday, especially in the Superpole Race. The advantage in the standings it is not my interest at the moment: what I’ll remember from this day is the fantastic feeling with the bike.
Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #21)
“Honestly it was a very difficult weekend. Right from FP1 the feeling wasn’t the same as in the previous rounds; unfortunately, we couldn’t work in FP2, then we had to run in wet conditions in FP3. Basically, we did setup in Race 1. At the same time, though, we need to be more responsive when we face difficulties like these. For sure we are not going to lose confidence from a weekend gone wrong.”
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WSSP #11)
“We can say that this was a perfect weekend, probably the best weekend of my life. We won the two races, starting from the pole position, always doing the fastest lap. I want to thank my team because from the very first lap of FP1 the feeling with the bike was simply fantastic. Now, though, we have to think about Barcelona.”
