World Superbike is preparing to return to action next week. After having held its last round almost two months ago, in Assen from 19 to 21 April, the series derivative championship returns on the weekend of 14 to 16 June in Misano for the fourth round of 2024 and the first in Italy.
It will be an important event for everyone, the rhythm of the competition will resume after a long stop. To avoid staying still for too long, however, the Superbike carried out several days of testing with the aim of also testing some parts developed in the spring. The last ones took place right in Misano, where Alvaro Bautista was also there.
The reigning world champion commented on his tests, but also spoke about one of the big open topics: the future of his career. In 2023, the Spaniard will turn 40 and already last year he seemed to be thinking about retiring, only to then announce his renewal with Ducati for this season. However, there has once again been talk that this could be his last contract… Or will there be another one?
At Misano, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider, currently world leader, started talking about dates in view of a decision. It will be exactly after the Romagna round: “I am totally focused on the current season. My priority is to think about the Misano race and do it as best as possible. I think after Misano I will make a decision,” Bautista commented to the official WorldSBK.com website. Therefore, you can expect news in the next few weeks, although it is not certain.
Last May, Bautista had already spoken about his future and did not seem willing to retire, even if he recognized that the goal was to recover the sensations of 2023, given that he is struggling more this season. “At the moment, I feel like I’m at 85 or 90%. I continue to run because I enjoy it and because I give my best, but I don’t think we are in our best moment now, so I think that first of all we need to recover those sensations. Then we will think about the future.”
“At the moment I don’t have the feeling of saying ‘I’m stopping’. I’m just focused on getting the feels back and having fun. I don’t feel pressure, I’m relaxed. I want to enjoy my fans. The moment I wake up in the morning and don’t think I want to be the best driver, then I will stop racing. At the moment, I want to be better to have fun on a motorbike,” she explained.
Speaking of recovering sensations, the Spaniard performed various tests in the Misano tests, crashing three times on the final day. However, this did not prevent him from finishing with the fourth fastest time. The Spaniard explained how it went: “I prefer the sensations with the race tire compared to the qualifying one. I am especially happy with the characteristics of the engine that we have resolved here”, he commented when speaking about the set-up of his Ducati Panigale V4R: “I think the situation is the same. We worked well on the behavior of the engine. We didn’t find anything for the setup, but I think what we found for the engine will help us a lot,” he concluded.
#SBK #Bautista #reveals #decision #future
