Runaway WorldSBK series leader Alvaro Bautista ran his first ever wet laps on the Panigale V4R during a one-day test at Imola today.

The Spaniard, who has won 11 out of 11 races so far this season, got to experience the beautiful Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in the dry earlier in the day before the heavens opened in the afternoon.

Today was a really positive day because I had a chance to test at Imola, a track I’ve never been to before,” said Bautista.

“Now I’ve got some markers for the race weekend, which is the most important thing, and also I have to say that we were lucky to have the rain towards the end of the test because this allowed me to lap in the wet for the first time with this bike and these tyres.

I’m very pleased because I started becoming confident with the bike also in these conditions, which are the only ones we haven’t encountered this year.

“I want to thank the Autodromo di Imola and all the fans who came here despite the bad weather, let’s hope we can also arrive at a competitive level during the race weekend.”

For championship leader Bautista, it was the first time ever that he had seen the Imola circuit, but the 34-year-old immediately got to grips with the difficult ups and downs of the track, one of the four circuits on the calendar where he has never raced (the others are Portimao, Magny-Cours and El Villicum).