Bautista and Gerloff lead the way on day-one of Misano WorldSBK test

Garrett Gerloff continued his impressive pace from Aragon to finish the opening session of Misano WorldSBK testing quickest, but it’s Aruba.it Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista who ended the day top.  

The GRT Yamaha rider and Bautista spent most of the day first and second, while a slender margin of +0.013s split the two riders at one stage. 

Gerloff led the way with a time of 1:34.419s at the lunch break, however, a time of 1:33.983s from Bautista was enough to put him -0.393s clear of the American with just under two hours remaining.

Gerloff, who finished second quickest to world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu during a recent two-day Yamaha-organised Aragon test, was taking part in just his third day of WorldSBK action this year.   

That’s also the case for Bautista, Gerloff’s team-mate Kohta Nozane, Michael Rinaldi, Puccetti Kawasaki rider Lucas Mahias and series rookies Philipp Oettl and Luca Bernardi. 

After struggling with back problems during last month’s Portimao test, Rinaldi seemed somewhat back to his best after getting within two tenths of Bautista during the morning session - something he failed to do at the Algarve International Circuit at any stage. 

Day-one of the Misano WorldSBK testing also marks the first time that Bautista, Rinaldi, Oettl and Bernardi are riding with their new 2022 Ducati liveries.

As is the case for factory riders Bautista and Rinaldi, Oettl is competing on a WorldSBK-spec Paniglae V4-R that’s not brand new, but instead an updated version of the 2021 machine.

Oettl’s GoEleven Ducati Team Manager, Denis Sacchetti, told WorldSBK.com: "The bike is a Ducati V4 R, WorldSBK-spec. It is derived from the 2021 bike; we have updated it and brought some improvements. 

"The development never stops and there are some very interesting tech novelties, the bike won’t be new, but it will be a development one compared to 2021."

Away from Yamaha and Ducati, the Misano test signifies the first official on-track action for BMW this year. 

However, the German manufacturer is taking part without its 2021 Portimao Superpole race winner Michael Van Der Mark who suffered a fractured leg during a mountain bike accident last Sunday. 

That means new acquisition Scott Redding was flying the team’s flag on his own, while Bonovo Action BMW riders Loris Baz and Eugene Laverty were also in action. 

Redding finished last of the BMW riders in tenth, while Baz concluded the day in P4 - three tenths ahead of team-mate Laverty in eighth. 

In terms of what’s new for Redding and his M 1000 RR this week, the 2019 BSB champion has a brand new 2022 engine, along with a new electronics package. Other upgrades include a new chassis, a reconfigured fuel tank and subframe assembly.

Speaking to WorldSBK.com, Team boss Shaun Muir said: "We’ve completely reconfigured the fuel tank, the subframe assembly and we’ve given him a bike now which fits him much better, which is really quick; the guys have done a fantastic job in literally eight weeks to do that. 

"We also validated the 2022 engine in Jerez, and we’ve now brought that here today as a final fix which will be what we start the season with.”

"We have a new chassis configuration for him as well with different flexibility, which is a summary of all the work we did last year. 

"We worked on quite a few chassis configurations and now we have a set chassis for Michael and for Scott, which is really solid from the test at Jerez to prove this for us. Just fine tuning, it’s all fine tuning the whole package."