Álvaro Bautista (37) gave an interview to Motorsport.com in which he evokes the first bars experienced in World Superbike. The pilot of Talavera de la Reina seeks to further strengthen its leadership in the British Grand Prix which takes place this weekend at the Donington Park circuit.
Bautista has six wins behind him and a 36 point difference over his rival to beat, Jonathan Rea. The 2019 vice-world champion is making one of his best starts since leaving MotoGP for World Superbike. Of the 12 races contested, the La Mancha driver did not come down from the podium in any of them. One of its keys is the great adaptation with the Ducati: “I feel very comfortable with the Ducati from the first moment I got on it. It is a motorcycle that allows me to ride as I want and to tighten it 100%”.
His high level this season is mainly due to the fact that he is “able to keep up the pace at the start and keep the tires on long distance” with the Ducati. Bautista also had good words for his two main rivals, Jonathan Rea there Toprak Razgatlioglu: “No introduction is necessary for them because they are super top.” That of Talavera believes that Superbikes have the fastest pace in history thanks to their high level and that of a large part of the field. “I try to understand their strengths and weaknesses and overlap them with my own”he added.
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Álvaro leads the World Cup with 36 points and aspires to fight for his first title in this category. Ducati haven’t won since 2011. “Ducati haven’t won for many years. This means that other brands have been stronger. We’ll see how things go. In 2019, it was going very well, but I did not expect how we started or how it ended, ”he adds.
His mission is to go slow, enjoy the bike and work every day because he always feels he has the quality to be in the elite: “During the years with Honda, I tried to be better every day. It made me stronger because I never gave up, because I want to ride a motorcycle. I raced in the elite for 20 years, I have nothing to prove.”. As for his plans for 2023, the renewal with Ducati does not change his plans and he sees it as a new challenge: “When the Ducati opportunity presented itself, I was even more motivated and had more strength”.