A year ago, Álvaro Bautista began his impressive series of victories in a WSBK championship at Phillip Island, which he discovered at the same time as the Ducati Panigale V4 R debuted. The duo was ultimately not titled but still scored 16 victories, which convinced Honda to poach the Spaniard at great expense to mobilize him on its new CBRR-R program, intended to reconquer the category. But, for the moment, we see more difficulties and disappointment than celebrations to come. However, before the 2019 campaign began, Alvaro Bautista failed to impress more. SO ? The masks will fall in a few hours at Phillip Island and the pilot is amused by the questions about him...
Alvaro Bautista is apparently a mystery in WSBK. He will only be doing his second season there, but it is a topic of conversation among his colleagues. Thus, on his apparent difficulties in getting used to a Honda equipped with a 4-cylinder in-line engine, the BMW driver Eugene Laverty commented : " he discovers how to ride a Superbike motorcycle. You have to be aggressive. » The master of the place Jonathan Rhea, who will attempt the sixth title with Kawasaki in 2020 completed: “ Redding is charismatic, Toprak is talented, while I don't know what to say about Álvaro. »
The Northern Irishman adds: “ it is obvious that his bike is at a high level, including the support of the Honda factory. The offseason result seems strange if you remember what he did in the first eleven races last year. It's clearly not the bike. Just see what Haslam does. There is a way to pilot it quickly. Álvaro is also very intelligent. During last year's winter testing he never showed what he then did at Phillip Island during the race weekend. Maybe he'll stay hidden until Friday. »
Speculations which amuse the 125 World Champion of the year 2006: “ It’s good that other drivers think that way. ", smiled Baptist during an interview with Speedweek. “ This shows that they are afraid of something. Let's see how it goes. I always do my best, but the fact is that in the tests I try above all to find a good feeling with the bike. I'm definitely not at the same level as last year. »
« I'm glad everyone is a little worried about what may happen over the weekend. This is probably because after last year's tests it was not clear that I could win the races with such a big lead » finishes the Spaniard. “ We evaluated all the data after the test and have some ideas that we will try over the weekend. I hope we can change some things in the right direction, to improve my feeling of the bike. Whatever happens, I'm ready. »
