This was certainly not the most impressive preseason 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 this, testing is one thing and racing is another.
The Ducati rider started by saying that his physical condition has improved, and that he is now feeling the bike more: ‘After the last day of testing here in Phillip Island, I felt a bit better, especially because my physical condition has improved a lot since the previous test. I’m very happy because it was the first time in the preseason that I started to feel the bike more, working on the sensations and trying to improve 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 testing is testing and racing is racing. 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’re in the first round, a very strange round for everything: my condition, the new calendar… we’ll try to do our best here, get the most out of it, and then think about the next one’.
