‘He’s too good for World Superbikes’

It’s a comment that has been readily offered up in our forums regarding Alvaro Bautista ever since it was announced he would be switching to t✱he series from MotoGP. Certainly on paper his 14 wins from the 19 starts he ℱhas thus far made offers credence to that assertion.

It’s also a veiled yet somewhat pejorative indictment of WorldSBK as a whole, one that errs on the side that – Bautista’s evident talent notwithstanding – 𒁃any MotoGP rider can succeed a🐼t World Superbike level.

Yet it would be glib to assume Bautista’s runaway success is solely down to him being a MotoGP-hon🍌ed rider - this is a rider that has found his sweet spot in a happy place… and that’s worth more than a few tenths.

You needn’t spend long with Alvaro to recognise this. Smil𓃲ing broadly, animated when he talks, Alvaro is engaging and enthusiastic about the new lease of l🐷ife his career is enjoying as a factory Aruba.it Ducati rider in WorldSBK.

“Now I feel like a star,” he tells wuqian0821.com in a🅠n exclusive interview when describing a visit to the factory🦩 in Borgo Panigale. “I do the same, but I feel like a star.”

It wasn't always like this but Bautista’s well-earned star quality has gꦓone a long way to reversing any misgivings he may have had about trading M🐠otoGP for WorldSBK.

Indeed, negative connotations towards racing in Wo✅rldSBK were more down to the inelegant manner in which he emerged as the rider left standing once the tunes stopped during the annual game of MotoGP ‘musical chairs’ - at least compared with some of the riders that remained in place - despite it being one of his strongest seasons to date.

Nevertheless, once any bitterness about bidding ‘adios’ to the premier class subsided, it became clear Bautista found himself in a very profitable 💟position in WorldSBK, wherꦜe he was elevated to factory Ducati status aboard its new, much-vaunted V4 R Panigale.

A few months and 14 trips to the top of the podiu⛎m later and Bautista doesn’t even hesitate when he is asked whether he is missing MotoGP at all.

“No,” he declares immediately and emphatically. “I work exactly the same as [I did] in MotoGP, I do exactly the same things at home, in the box,𓆏 I prepare the race weekend like in MotoGP.

“[But] Here I am winning s𒁃o I don’t miss MotoGP. Maybe I miss the fact we race more often (over the year), but here to make three races in one weekend I prefer, because I like to race.”

With the Ducati V4 R Panigale borne from the silhouette of itไs Desmosedicis, not only was it logical for Ducati to pluck Bautista from the MotoGP programme to give it an eye-catching talisman at the forefront of its most ambitious WorldSBK programme in years, but it also meant he arguably required less ‘adapting’ than previous converts.

Indeed, Bautista accepts this MotoGP-inspired ethos has played a factor in his seamless transition to 🎀Superbikes, revealing he isn’t sure if he’d have been similarly competitive had he debuted with a Panigale R twin instead.

“I think this bike is totally different from the last bike [Panigale R], this bike is coming from a MotoGP base - the V4 is not a copy but it is coming from that technology. For me I find here is a very sim𓆉ilar bike to MotoGP.

“It has ꦐnot been꧂ difficult for me to adapt, even with the different tyres and suspension because the base is similar to MotoGP.

“With last year’s bike, I don’t know if I co๊uld be competitive or not because that bike was very different, but fortunately I am here this season and the bike is this one. I♏ fit very well.

“I felt very comfortable because I start to enjoy the bike. Australia was the first time I started to enjoy my training with the bike and yeah for sure I didn’t expect anything but I didn’t expect to win three races of the seas🌺on but it ꧙was a consequence of my feeling with the bike.”

A perfect storm fo♈r Bautista, he maintains he is doing nothing different in terms of preparations, approach and training than in MotoGP, but while he feels as though the Ducati Panigale V4 R is an extension of himself, he says he is often alarmed with how energetic he appe﷽ars when watching himself on playback.

“It is difficult to explain,” he continues. “It is like the bike and me are only one. The feeling, you want to go in ♚and the bike follows you, you want to brake hard and the bike helps you. I don’t know how to describe it.

“When I am riding I feel the bike is moving, for braking I cross the bike and I slid🐲e a lot but when I watch me on TV I say ‘bad’, how can I ride like that?

“There’s all this all this movement but I don’t feel that bike on the move, not a lot…ඣ the feeling with the Ducati is smooth, very fluid but when you are looking from the o🗹utside it looks like a disaster.

“Many times, my team ask me if I am uncomfortable with the bike (pauses befor🐭e making a ‘waaaaaah’ noise, crosses his arms ove🌟r and laughs) because it’s moving a lot but I didn’t feel it!”

Whilst Bautista’s dominance has been tempere✃d by costly errors in Jerez and Misano whilst leading, he is open about how much he is enjoying the renewed⛎ attention he is receiving in World Superbikes, regardless of the success or the mistakes.

Now a firm fan and factory favourite – a boon for a rider who has spent much of his career on satellite machines – the mental boost of winning on track is a powerful validation of abilities that were respected at best, but all too ꩲoften overlooked 𒐪in the competitive cauldron of MotoGP.

“I am doing exactly the same as in MotoGP, my preparation, my work I do inside the box; everything is the same. For sure,ಌ I am enjoying doing the work, doing the races, the competition, but here I can win so I can enjoy it even more.

“When I came here everybody asked me about expectations, but I said ‘expect to not expect anythinꦺg’ – I came here with nothing in t꧃he mind, I discovered everything…”

Is Bautista too good for WorldSBK?

Maybe, maybe not but WorldSBK has certainly꧋ been verygood for Bautista…