Motogp, Bautista very fast on the Ducati at Misano
Five years later, Alvaro finds a Desmosedici, the Ducati and Aruba prize for the Superbike World Championship. And it all happens very quickly: “Better than I expected”
Five years is a long time, but for Alvaro Bautista the time since he was last on a MotoGP bike seems infinitely shorter. It will be that the Spaniard, now 38, has practically been born again in the last two years, taking on the Aruba team’s Ducati to conquer everything there is in Superbike, in pole positions, in racing, in the Superpole races and especially in the race to conquer. the World Cup. Given the great season he’s playing, the second is already on the horizon. But it wasn’t so obvious that Bautista could go that fast with the Ducati MotoGP. Instead, a few laps were enough for Bautista to already be riding at an excellent level on the GP23, the award Borgo Panigale gave him for winning the Superbike title. And finally, one look at his face as he returned to the pits was enough to understand his satisfaction. “I am very happy to be able to ride this bike again. The difference between Superbike and MotoGP is really striking, in practically every area from acceleration and braking to aerodynamics and performance. The difference is really incredible but I’m happy because the feeling was good from the first laps and I understood the bike very well, I had a lot of fun.”
Fast adjustment
—
With Michele Pirro, the Ducati test rider, under close watch, Bautista could be back on track by late afternoon, before completing his return on a MotoGP bike tomorrow morning. “The adjustment to the bike went very well, maybe better than I expected. The last time I rode a MotoGP bike was in 2018 and now the bike is very different. I didn’t have any new memories, but even if I had, I would have.” , the bike is completely different now, especially from an aerodynamic point of view. After so many years in superbikes the difference is noticeable because the bike is harder and so are the tires, then there is more power. However, honestly I expected it to be more difficult to adapt, but I began to understand how to drive it almost immediately.” And even if no times were given, Alvaro immediately came close to the results of last year’s race, so much so that there is speculation that he will return to MotoGP as a wildcard at the Misano Adriatico GP. “Our goal is not to set a time, it’s just to have fun and understand this new MotoGP.” I won’t do a time attack because I don’t want to take any risks: that’s just a prize for last year’s World Championship and we have to assume there will be a race at Donington next week, which is the most important thing.”
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
