News

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) may sport a 56-point lead in the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race but after a triple at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands, he’s spoken out against those who state that the bike is the only reason. Bautista has been the highest performing Ducati rider in 2023 and also in 2022 and 2019 – his other two seasons aboard the machine – and has now made his point clear.

“Maybe for the others, the couple is not so nice… you need it all together”

Asked in his media debrief on Sunday afternoon whether it is him who is able to make the difference or the bike and why other Ducati riders struggled at the weekend, Bautista replied: “I think it’s a couple. Maybe it’s because for the others, the couple is not so nice and it’s important that you have a good team with a good setup to go fast. It’s not only the bike, nor only the rider, can win. You need something more; you need it all together.

“It doesn’t matter what people think… I invite them to ride this bike”

“Many people say, ‘Alvaro only wins because the bike is a rocket’, but then why don’t the other rockets win? Or, ‘Alvaro wins because he’s 20kg less than Toprak for example’, but OK, Michael Ruben Rinaldi is more or less my weight and he struggles a bit more. At the end, for me, it doesn’t matter what people think. I know what the feeling of the bike is and to ride in this way, it isn’t easy. I have to put a lot of effort to ride this bike.”

On the subject, Bautista openly invited those who think that his job is easy to try the Ducati Panigale V4 R, and that his MotoGP™ experience is the secret to his success: “I invite all the people to ride this bike; the bike is nice but you have to ride the bike in this way and have the confidence to do so in order to go fast. There is a step that you need to pass and if you don’t pass, then you’ll never go fast. The way to ride this bike is more of a MotoGP™ style, and here there aren’t a lot of MotoGP™ riders. I had the luck to race there and I can use that experience to ride the bike and have the confidence to ride the bike like this. I think it’s the combination: it’s not a bike, rider or team, it’s the combination.”

“I’ve never had this feeling with the bike… this is the best Bautista”

The reigning World Champion then turned his attention to this being one of the best moments in his career, citing that it’s the “best Bautista” possible: “We have to be focused on the present and try to keep this feeling with the bike because I think, in all of my career, I’ve never had this feeling with the bike. This is the best Bautista, if you give me four more, I don’t have it. If riders go faster, then I can’t stay with them. I’m happy, not just to win races because if two riders went faster than me but I have this feeling and finish third, then I can be happy because I got the most from the bike.”

BASSANI DEFENDS BAUTISTA: “Only Alvaro rides like this… if I do the same, I am slow”

Likewise talking in his media debriefs, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), the next-highest Ducati in the standings and top Independent in fourth overall, shared a similar view, and that the style to ride the Ducati can’t always be a replica of Bautista’s: “Only Alvaro rides like this; if me, Danilo, Michael or Philipp ride like Alvaro, we are not fast. His style is OK for him, but not for us. It’s really difficult to do the same because if I do the same, I am slow as it isn’t my style. Danilo is also an ex-MotoGP™ rider… I am 20kg more than Alvaro so it’s not easy. We ride it like a MotoGP™ bike by picking it up, but it doesn’t work.”

A breath-taking season is well underway, watch it all unfold in style with the WorldSBK VideoPass!