This certainly wasn’t the most impressive pre-season for Álvaro Bautista in the World Superbike Championship, and the two-time champion even stated that there are no expectations for the start of the season, adding that, despite that, testing is one thing, and racing is another.
The Ducati rider started by saying that his physical condition has improved, and he is now feeling more connected to the bike: ‘After the last day of testing here in Phillip Island, I felt a little better, especially because my physical condition has improved a lot since the previous test. I am very happy because it was the first time in the pre-season that I started to feel more connected to the bike, working on the sensations and trying to increase my performance. It was a tough winter. At home, I worked hard to recover as quickly as possible, but it was very slow’.
As for the first round of the season, Bautista confesses that he doesn’t have a specific goal in mind: ‘I have no expectations for this weekend. It’s the first round of the season. It’s a long championship. It’s difficult because tests are tests and races are races. The grid this year is very competitive, there are many very fast riders’.
Bautista doesn’t even “risk” making predictions: ‘Honestly, I wouldn’t bet on any rider because anything can happen! The championship is long. We are in the first round, a very strange round for everything: my condition, the new calendar… we will try to give our best here, get the most out of it, and then think about the next one’.
