Bautista was wanted by Honda to spearhead a new WSBK project with the new CBR1000RR-R. Poached from Ducati where he had quickly built up an interesting track record, despite the missed title, the couple formed by the former Spanish Grand Prix rider and the world's leading manufacturer was expected and even feared. Here we are in the second season of this adventure and, for the moment, we must recognize that the mountain has given birth to a mouse. We are far from the great ambitions displayed. So much so that there is starting to be water in the gas…
Alvaro Bautista certainly expected more Honda and the brand undoubtedly hoped for better from its driver. This is the atmosphere that currently reigns in the HRC box in WSBK where the opportunities to rejoice for two years now are as rare as those currently taking place in MotoGP. The difference being that in Superbike, the sadness is likely to last, because in this category, Honda does not have a Marc Marquez to save the day.
The Japanese, on the other hand, have Leon Haslam, who works hard and silently, and Álvaro Bautista, which is undoubtedly used as much, but with less discretion in a complicated situation. The Spaniard, whom his employer discovered injured during the offseason, is even quite critical of the way this project was put together. So, although as powerful and fast as the Panigale V4, the latest version of the Honda CBR1000RR-R is a profound transformation of the previous model, but not a revolution.
There was, however, speculation about a possible VFR 1000, with a V4 engine, reminiscent of the legendary and award-winning RC30 and RC45. But Honda preferred to continue working on the CBR range. Thus, the 4-cylinder was kept in line and the chassis, although revised, is essentially that of the previous CBR. A set that Baptist diplomatically rates as excellent motorcycle for the road, but insufficient for winning races.
The former Grand Prix rider even makes this clarification which will make Tokyo cringe: “ the engine has plenty of power, but the chassis was built without establishing its standard with testing, it was made without references. I don't know if I'm explaining myself well: no tests were done before building the bike ».
Bautista: “There is nothing we can do to improve the current situation”
However, during the off-season, it was said that the factory Honda had looked at her machine and in particular electronic sound, and that, this year, we would realize that the first opus developed in full confinement had only been a first draft to be put away in the memories section. But it is clear that nothing has really changed from one season to the next: “ I expected a lot more at the start of the season, there is nothing we can do to improve the current situation. We can only keep working and try to be better in the future ", declared the Spaniard in an interview taken up by Solomoto.
Baptist adds: " it's not that there is one thing that we lack compared to another: when I'm on the track the differences with my rivals are very small, but it's that the bike needs to improve in all the domains ". Álvaro describes the season as practically lost and emphasizes that the experience of these two years should be used to create a new bike: “ regulations prohibit us from making major modifications to the engine or chassis. This makes it difficult to progress through the season. We need to collect as much information as possible for the next model and thus be able to take a big step forward ».
Baptist knows that Honda worked hard, but the limitations of his CBR were evident last weekend at Donington : " Overall, it was a tough weekend. On Friday we tried something different with the setup, just to check a few things and gather some information, but it didn't work as expected, so we went back to a more traditional setup ", Explain Baptist.
« We managed to finish in the top ten, but, frankly, that's not what we want. We have to improve from now on because we want to do much better, of course ". The Spaniard also ends with this observation: “ the difference we have with the drivers in front is a little more important than last year, but now, in addition, there are more drivers who are doing well. This is one of the reasons why our results are worse than last year ". On this point, we will recall that at Donington, we saw BMW on the podium.
