Álvaro Bautista will try to become Superbike World Champion for the third consecutive time in the season starting this weekend in Phillip Island. However, after a difficult winter in which he not only had to recover from an injury but also adapt to the new minimum weight rules, he does not consider himself one of the favorites to win in Australia.
Speaking to Servus TV, the Aruba.it Ducati rider stated: ‘I don’t have any expectations right now, because I didn’t have the best possible pre-season due to injury. I spent basically the whole pre-season recovering my neck and, in the tests, I couldn’t work a lot with my bike. For the start of the season, I think I’m not one of the favourites to win because I have a lot of things to recover, like the feeling with the bike and I’m still a bit far from my best performance’.
The Phillip Island circuit now has a new asphalt, and Bautista admitted that this is another factor working against him: ‘Phillip Island is always good for us, but the Phillip Island from now is a bit different because there is a different asphalt. The way you have to ride the bike is different. With a lot of grip, you can’t make the bike spin like in the past. You cannot make the bike turn. Phillip Island was really good for my riding style but, right now, my riding style isn’t working with this surface. We have a really challenging weekend ahead of us, and I’ll try to work as hard as possible to be competitive. Right now, we’re in a different situation to last year’.