Alvaro Bautista says a misguided setup on his Aruba.it Racing Ducati effectively denied him a clean day of Friday practice at Assen having failed to match the fro🌱nt-running pace of his World Superbike rivalಌs.

The Spaniard has won the opening nine races of his maiden World Superbike campaign equipped w🐻ith the new Ducati V4 R but in cold conditionꦏs at Assen he struggled to replicate his dominant pace from the previous rounds.

Bautista put it down to a change in settings with his Ducati, having been hit with a 25ও0RPM drop following a technical balancing 💜change from championship organisers, and reverted to his previous settings midway through FP2.

As a result, he feels he had just “the last ten minutes” of FP2 without issues which explains his lack of pace ending the day in sixth place and almost two-tenths off✤ pace-setter Tom Skyes on the BMW.

“Today was a bit of an unusual day. The temperatures were very low and we used a slightly different setting from the last races t🎀o try and be quick right from the start,” Bautista said. “Maybe it was because the track๊ was too cold, but I wasn’t able to improve the way I wanted during the first session.

“In the afternoon session, after a few laps, we decided to go back to the set-up used in the last race🎶s. The mechanics were very quick to carry out the modifications required 🎶and the feeling with the bike improved immediately.

“Basically in two practice sessions, we on💖ly lapped without any problems for the last ten minutes. These things happen sometimes, but luckily we were able to finish t♈he day with a good feeling.

“The times are all close to🐻gether, but I think we’vಌe found the right direction for the weekend.”

Bautista has the chance to make World Superbike 🧜history if he can win the opening Assen race which would see him beat Neil Hodgson’s record of nine consecutive wins at the start of a World Superbike season, with the British rider achieving the feat back in 2003.