Alvaro Bautista’s WorldSBK title defence got off to a strong start after the Aruba.it Ducati rider topped pre-season testing at Phillip Island.
With just two days left before the opening round of 2023 gets underway at the Australian circuit, Bautista showcased consistent pace in both of Tuesday’s two hour sessions, commanding the timesheets with a 1’30.272 best to hold off Pata Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli and Bologna teammate Michael Rinaldi in the overall times.
“I think from the first day with this bike, I feel good.,” Bautista said of his evolutionary Panigale V4R. “We didn’t have to make big changes on the bike, just small details. Yesterday we try some setups, but today we were focused only on tyres and to get the maximum feeling with the tyres.
“In this afternoon I did a Superpole race simulation with the SC0 tyre, so ten laps, then race 23 laps simulation.
While the preparation has been exhaustive, a late delivery of Pirelli tyres - scheduled for before the test but yet to arrive as the chequered flag dropped - forced the Spaniard to adapt the initial plan.
“I did many, many laps during these two days.,” Bautista continued. “Yesterday, I did 88 laps and today I think I did 80, so tyres, we have in the limit but at least we have to arrive always 20 laps with the tyre. Normally, in a normal test you change after 15/14 but here you have to arrive to 20 laps. For me, I prefer this because you can work more specific for the race and less for the time attack. Especially this morning, because we had two SC0 tyre from the rear and I use one this morning just to see the feeling but I didn’t have a good front so have to try with a soft front, but it was crazy. In the first lap, I was almost crashing because no good feeling on the front so I can’t use like a qualification tyre. In the afternoon I try to do ten laps to see if we can use for the Superpole race with the right tyre on the front and yeah, the feeling was quite good.”
First in both Tuesday’s sessions, second on Monday morning and third in the afternoon, plus strong running across the European tests proved positive reading for the reigning champion and his title defence.
“For sure the bike is very good, but we have still to improve especially on turning area without gas,” Bautista confirmed. “Is Ducati character, nothing special so same as last year. Also on the stability, especially in a fast track like this one. Many times the bike move a lot, maybe for my weight or something, but I feel a lot of movement. If we can improve that, I will be happy but I’m not so disappointed with the evolution of this bike.”
With testing complete, what are the 38-year-old’s expectations heading into round one.
“I think that race weekend is different,” he admitted despite his pre-season dominance. “For sure, many riders are testing things and in the race weekend, is like you put all together. Like always, I say that ‘what you see on test you have to be very careful for the race weekend’.
“The idea is just to start on Friday, try to give this feeling with the bike - for me, the important thing is the feeling with the bike - and then we’ll see. For sure, I’m not looking to the others. I’m just focused on myself. Try to do my best and that’s all. If we can do good, perfect! If we cannot do good, okay, we will try.
“I think in the race weekend, everybody will go fast,” he continued. Especially Toprak, that seems like he’s struggling but for me, he’s like, not pushing 100 per cent because I saw him on the track. He has pace and when he gets another rider, he can follow him. For example yesterday he was like a ‘31, follow me and ‘boom’ ‘30. So that means that he can do it. Also I think Rea is working for the bike but when is the right time to push, he will push!”