SBK | Bautista: “Bulega surprised me, but Iannone more!”

The defense of the title does not start in the best way for Alvaro Bautista, who suffered his first crash of the season in Race 1 in Australia. The Spaniard, who spent the winter recovering his physical fitness after the injury during the tests Jerez also concentrated his efforts on finding balance on the bike due to the weight imposed by the regulations.

The mix of ingredients did not allow the reigning champion to dominate as we saw last year, on the contrary. In the initial stages he was left in chaos at the start and after a contact with Lowes he lost positions. During the comeback, he slipped while attempting to overtake Bassani, ending up in the gravel of Turn 10 and returning to the track to cross the finish line in 15th position.

“Fortunately nothing serious, I lost the front when braking,” explained the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider at the end of Race 1. “I was too far inside and I pushed too hard, so I fell. It's a shame, because the The start wasn't bad, I had finished second at Turn 2. I thought I could increase my pace in those moments, but instead I remained calm, because I saw that there was a lot of confusion. I was recovering, then Lowes touched me at Turn 9 and he pushed me out. I lost some positions, then while recovering some positions I fell while trying to overtake Bassani. I don't know what happened today.”

When Bautista is asked if the fall could be a consequence of excessive enthusiasm in recovering, he confirms it but provides further explanations: “On the one hand perhaps yes, but on the other hand, at that moment it seemed easy to overtake my rivals . When I crashed, maybe I was at the limit on the front, but I don't think I did anything that crazy. When I lost positions after Lowes pushed me out I thought I had to recover because I had the pace to do it.”

There is also a reference to the weight added to his bike, new for 2024 due to the minimum weight imposed which he does not reach due to his height: “I have gained a bit of weight from a muscular point of view. I don't know exactly how many kilos were put on the bike. The bike is certainly heavier than last year… But so am I!”.

On the track where he achieved a hat-trick a year ago, Bautista was a spectator of another rider's triumph. However, he doesn't imagine a hypothetical ending without that fall: “Without the slip, what results could I have achieved? I don't know, because after the race it's easy to talk about results, even if I think I could have fought for the podium.”

“The other driver” is actually his teammate. Nicolò Bulega already imposed himself on his debut, a result that on the one hand leaves us stunned, but on the other it only confirms the good sensations shown during the winter tests: “On the one hand I'm not surprised by Nicolò's performance, because he was fast right from the start. On the other hand I have to say that he had a really consistent pace. I'm not surprised, but I think he did a great job conserving the tires and the pace.”

The person who really surprised Bautista was Andrea Iannone, who returned to racing after a four-year hiatus and climbed to the third step of the podium on his Superbike debut: “I thought Bulega could aim for victory, but I have to admit that Andrea surprised me more because I didn't imagine him reaching the podium. We all know how fast he is on this track, but I really didn't think he was that strong.”