Bautista says he is not obsessed with regaining the Superbike title. He also spoke again about a possible wild card in MotoGP.
About Matthew Bellan de Motoracing
Alvaro Bautista will be the man to beat in the 2023 Superbike World Championship and it could not be otherwise since he is the reigning champion. The winter tests went well. Both in Jerez and in Portimao, he was fast with the new Ducati Panigale V4 R. There now remains one last test at Phillip Island (February 20-21) before the start of the championship, in Australia, on the weekend of February 23 to 25. It's a circuit that the Aruba Racing driver is very fond of, he will certainly start there as favorite and it wouldn't be too surprising if he starts with a triple victory. Obviously, rivals will do anything to beat him.
Baptist has been crowned World Superbike champion for the first time and will be aiming for a recall. However, he doesn’t want to think too much about this goal: “ it's not my obsession to win back the title. We'll just do it right – he told Motosan.es – and in the end we will see the result. Only a rider can win, you can't be influenced by that. I will try to give the best of myself. Toprak and Jonathan will surely want to have number 1 again ».
Bautista: “I asked to try the Desmosedici"
The pilot Ducati doesn't want to put pressure on himself, although given his champion status it's inevitable that expectations of him will be high. He can't hide. At the same time, he knows it's a new year and he's starting from scratch. He must stay focused and work hard to become number 1 in World SBK again.
After winning the 2022 title, there was talk of the possibility that Baptist tests the Desmosedici GP, the MotoGP prototype of Ducati. Nothing has been organized yet, but the Spaniard would not hesitate to roll it over: “ I asked to try it because I would like to see how much she has changed since I left her in 2018. Just out of curiosity. We will see if there will be the possibility of doing a test ».
The idea of racing in a MotoGP race as a wild card is not a priority, but Alvaro teases: “ I have to test the bike first, for the moment I only asked to do a test and to have fun. We'll see after, if I'm fast and competitive, whether there will be the possibility of requesting a wild card or not ". From now on, the pilot of 38 years is focusing on Superbike and will try to start the new championship in the best possible way. For the rest, we'll see...
