Alvaro Bautista took part in the Jerez test despite his persistent injury, working on the settings of his Ducati Panigale V4R to adapt to the new minimum weight regulations. Although the Spanish driver placed 17th, he expressed satisfaction with the improvement in his health during the day. Bautista stressed that he did not aim to put down fast laps, instead focusing on the bike's settings. He said he was looking forward to the trials in Portimao to continue on this path and get more feedback on his state of health.
Alvaro Bautista admitted that he had not been able to fully attack Jerez due to his physical condition, but noted a gradual improvement: “ I am satisfied because after a first day characterized by a little pain which did not allow me to find the best sensations, things went better afterwards and that is undoubtedly a good sign. In fact, I can say that my conditions have even improved. The good thing is that the pain has been constant, if not reduced. This allowed me to do several long runs, even if I'm not 100% ».
The official Ducati has indeed closed 81 laps, but without ever considering going for the time: “ we obviously never tried to get the time but that was not the priority of these tests. I didn't even put on qualifying tires. Because I knew I couldn't give much ».
Alvaro Bautista: “ overall, the level is higher than in 2023 »
The Spaniard also highlighted that his main opponents were very fast: “ Razgatlioglu, Rea and Bulega perform well. I had designated them as my main rivals and that is indeed the case. They rode hard and didn't surprise me, even if it's always difficult to make an assessment here. But overall, the level is higher than in 2023 ».
He adds : " maybe I should be worried, but my condition and the sensations with the bike prevented me from being 100% ". But then, how was he able to work correctly on the ballast of 7 kilos that he will now have to carry on his Panigale V4R? The pilot of 38 years responds: “ we worked a lot on the settings, especially in view of the new regulations and we obtained important indications ».
However … " I can't say more until I feel good. I have no idea how far I can go but at the moment I'm far from the limit. In Portugal, I will do the same test as on Wednesday with the two weight distributions to understand if the sensations are equivalent. It's a different type of circuit, so it's not necessarily a given that what we tested here is good. We will make the comparison and then we will see what to adopt in Australia » concludes Alvaro Bautista.
Results of the second day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera:
Results of the first day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera:
