Seven kilos of ballast
The minimum bike-rider weight rule introduced in Superbike this year is mandatory Alvaro Bautista and the Ducati to distribute seven kilos of ballast on the number #1 Panigale V4R. The Spanish driver, winner of the last two world titles in derivatives from the series, did not give too much weight to single lap performance during the winter tests held in Jerez and Portimao, concentrating on race pace and set-ups to best make up for this regulatory handicap .
In any case, Bautista believes he is the victim of legislation that has essentially targeted him: “I certainly can't say I'm happy with this new rule, but I expected it because it's been talked about for months. From my point of view it is an unsportsmanlike rule that was established with the sole purpose of penalizing me“declared the Ducati rider interviewed by the French newspaper Moto Journal.
According to his opponents, the fact that Bautista is a featherweight represented an advantage for the Iberian in terms of lower tire wear, an advantage to be spent towards the end of the race when the tires take their toll in terms of degradation. Bautista stressed that being a 'jockey' also has disadvantages, especially when he races in Superbike: “I don't agree with those who believe that the fact that I weigh little is an advantage in terms of tire wear. AND in general my weight is not an advantage, especially when riding a Superbike that weighs more than 12 kilos more than a MotoGP. Superbikes are the heaviest motorcycles that exist in speed motorcycling and to tame them you also need a lot of strength. If I won it is because I worked as best I could on a physical level to still have sufficient strength combined with a motorbike, the Ducati Panigale, with which I am truly in symbiosis thanks to the work we have done on the set-up and its settings. Anyone who continually talks about my weight to try to discredit my results is talking nonsense.”
The 2024 Superbike championship includes 'only' 10 ten events and will begin at the end of February at Phillip Island in Australia, a track on which Bautista has always performed well, even coming close to the podium in MotoGP when he raced on the official Ducati in place of the injured Jorge Lorenzo. According to Danilo Petrucci, Bautista in Australia will still be the rider to beat despite the 'headlights off' tests in which the Spaniard hid, according to the Terni native.
#Bautista #indigestible #ballast #Unsportsmanlike #rule
