From the first round of this 2023 WSBK season, Alvaro Bautista knocked out his opponents by dominating the three races offered at Phillip Island, not to mention the tests. The Ducati official put the rest of the World Superbike field directly into the red with a Panigale V4R with an identical tone. As a demonstration, the World Champion took care of his already flattering statistics on this Australian track. But the Spaniard does not necessarily see a cause and effect relationship. It's not just the affinity with the site that explains this domination according to him, and he will be keen to demonstrate it elsewhere...
And elsewhere it's already next week in Indonesia. A circuit which could truly be the one which will set the trend for this Superbike campaign: “ I'm particularly excited about Indonesia » commented the official pilot Ducati. " Not that I really struggled there last year. But I never felt like I could fight for victory. We'll see how it goes this year ».
Because between Phillip Island and Baptist, it's still a beautiful love story. This weekend he celebrated the fifth hat-trick of his Superbike career. He is the first driver to score a second hat-trick on the same track since joining this peloton in 2019. With a total of eight wins at Phillip Island, he is now by far the most successful Worlds driver at the spectacular track. 4,4 kilometers.
Alvaro Bautista: “ it won't just be Rea, Razgatlioglu and I who will be on the podiums this year«
Certainly, but the same Bautista also specifies, in case some people think that the results of this weekend can only be explained thus: “ if you look at the winter testing, I was fast on all tracks, not just here. I now know the bike like the back of my hand, I know how the tires behave and I have my references everywhere. In addition, the new bike makes it a little easier to accelerate out of corners. We have definitely taken a step forward from last year, which has already been seen here, in Jerez and in Portimao ».
Perhaps realizing that he was thus killing interest in this championship, he still granted this: “ the bike moves a lot, too because I'm so small and light and I have to move a lot on the bike to compensate. This problem is not easy to solve. We tried to make the machine more forgiving during the winter, but if you improve the whole thing on one side, you get disadvantages on the other side, for example grip. Everything is a combination of things and finding the best compromise is a tricky task! ».
He finishes and reiterates this observation that he made during the offseason: “ It won't just be Rea, Razgatlioglu and I who will be on the podiums this year. Locatelli et Rinaldi are also fast. Razgatlioglu was unlucky today as another driver got in his way. Something similar happened to Sale The morning. But they will be there, like many others “, he analyzed. " The density of competition means you can be quite far behind if you have a bad day. This is why it is up to us to be even more precise, to work with even more concentration and to make as few errors as possible. » he finishes.
WSBK Superbike Phillip Island Race 2: standings
Credit classification wsbk.com
