The current MotoGP is anything but simple, the starting riders, but also the wild cards, know something about it. This is the case of Alvaro Bautista, present in Sepang riding the Desmosedici GP23 of the Ducati team with the Aruba colours. The participation of the two-time Superbike world champion is a reward for the title won two weeks ago (which is added to that of last year) and the aim of the weekend is to have fun, without looking for performance.
In fact, Bautista ended Friday’s free practice at the back, adapting to the Desmosedici is not easy and, despite what he had shown in the tests with the Ducati last summer, the Spaniard had already warned how different it would be during the weekend of competition. However, he ends the first day of the Malaysian Grand Prix with a smile: “I didn’t expect anything from today, but the day was very positive, I enjoyed riding the bike! Obviously everything is very different compared to the test, starting with the circuit. At Misano there is better grip and everything seemed simpler.”
“This morning we started with a basic setting that I didn’t feel too comfortable with, so in the afternoon we adapted it a bit to my needs and we improved little by little, I improved my time by almost two seconds. I still don’t feel fully comfortable with the bike, certainly the way of riding this bike is very different compared to the Superbike”, explains Bautista referring to the Panigale V4R, with which he has dominated the last two seasons.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing Ducati
The Talavera de la Reina rider then goes into detail explaining the differences: “Used to Superbike, with this bike I struggle to turn with the throttle. With the SBK, I brake hard and mid-corner with the throttle I can make it turn and I have traction. With these bikes it’s a little different and if you slide it to turn, you don’t recover traction because there is more power. We miss this aspect. Then I can’t force too much on the rear tire like I do in derivatives, but I can re-adapt my style to this bike. Let’s see if we can make some progress tomorrow. Of course, it will also be a difficult day, because we will have FP3 to improve the sensations, Q1 to improve the flying lap and then the Sprint.”
Friday’s free practice was useful for understanding which aspects to improve on and, unlike the tests, Bautista was able to follow some riders to get inspiration and have a reference when he has to work to improve: “I followed some riders, there’s no ‘there was such a difference between me and others. There are three or four places where I lose a little more, but otherwise there wasn’t a huge difference. I’m confident that tomorrow I can take a step forward and try to close the gap. I don’t lose much in braking, but in acceleration we lack a bit of traction and maintaining the line to lift the bike and exit the corner.”
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