The bottles of champagne, at Ducati, have not yet stopped being uncorked. Last Sunday the Borgo Panigale team managed to win all three MotoGP World titles – Riders, Constructors and Teams – but this weekend the party could even get even bigger.
After the MotoGP World Championship, Ducati is looking forward to the penultimate World Superbike round to be held in Mandalika, Indonesia, on the island of Lombok. Alvaro Bautista is really one step away from bringing the world championship title back to production derivatives in Borgo Panigale, in a year that would become legendary for Ducati.
The Spaniard arrives in Indonesia with an 82-point advantage over the first of his rivals, the reigning world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu, and the opportunity to immediately win what would be the first career champion in the category.
For Ducati, on the other hand, it would be an opportunity to bring the Riders title back to Borgo Panigale that has been missing since 2011, when it was Carlos Checa – then rider of the Althea-Ducati team – who took the title with 505 points overall and 15 seasonal wins.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Aruba.it Racing Ducati
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“I am happy to return to Indonesia also because in this country the passion for motorcycles is really strong”, declared Bautista on the eve of the penultimate act of the season. “This weekend will be one of the most difficult for us. I’ve never raced here with the Ducati and for this reason I will have to find references for this bike from Friday morning. “
“Furthermore, the asphalt is new so we will have to work to understand many factors including grip of course. The uncertain weather does not give us a hand in this sense but we must be prepared to face any conditions”.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi, on the other hand, aims to close the speeches to secure fourth position in the World Championship behind the three sacred monsters who are fighting for success. Currently the Italian driver has a margin of 53 points du Alex Lowes.
“We arrive in Indonesia with the awareness of having found, in the last few races, the speed that we lacked in the middle of the season. In Argentina things were not easy but we always reached the Top 5, also fighting for the podium. I like this circuit and it would be nice to be able to race in dry conditions even if the weather forecast does not seem to be good in this sense ”.
#WSBK #Bautista #Indonesia #Ducatis #super