Alvaro Bautista on Nicolo Bulega's pace: "It’s not, at the moment, a problem…"
Alvaro Bautista questioned about the form of Nicolo Bulega
Alvaro Bautista insists the form of his teammate Nicolo Bulega isn't an issue "at the moment".
Bulega topped the timesheets of Friday Practice in Catalunya, at the second round of the 2024 World Superbikes season, ahead of teammate and champion Bautista.
Bautista finds himself in the unusual position of being behind a teammate.
"Until now I could not ride the package as I wanted. It’s difficult," he said on Friday.
"Even if my teammate was slower than me, I was not happy because of [my struggles].
"I am happy because it means the bike works well and he is pushing. The level is there. We have to ride at least at this level.
"I’m happy to have him with me in the team.
"It’s not a problem. It’s an advantage.
"It’s not, at the moment, a problem…"
Bautista ended day-one of the Catalunya WorldSBK round in second after rediscovering his form aboard the Panigale V4 R.
Bautista said: “Today has been a really positive day for me because, especially in the morning, my feeling with the bike was terrible.
“It was similar to the test and basically, similar to the other times I have ridden the bike this season.
“Me and my team didn't understand why because the bike is the same as last year, just a bit heavier. It’s impossible that the bike changes its behaviour just because of the weight.
“We tried to give my best feeling to the engineers to explain what I need and what I want to ride the bike.
“Seems like they understand more or less and they made a change with the set-up of the bike. It was like ‘woah’.
“It was like night and day so I felt much better in the afternoon. It helped me to ride as I wanted so I’m really happy.
“I think it has been the best feeling I have had with this bike this season. Now we have to keep going in this direction. Tomorrow I hope to keep this feeling and step-by-step improve my feeling.”
While his main focus was improving his feeling with the Panigale V4 R, Bautista put together two long simulations on different tyres.
And the results were promising as he didn’t feel a considerable drop off with either, including Pirelli’s new rear tyre for this weekend.
“This morning and in the test it didn't work for me,” began Bautista. “In the afternoon both tyres worked for me so it depends on the set-up.
“When you are riding the bike as you want, you can force the tyre less. In the afternoon I tried the SCX and the new 900 and I didn’t feel a real big difference ein the performanc elevel.
“I did almost the same amount of laps with both tyres and the drop was not that big. For me, I didn’t focus on the tyre. I was focused on the bike and myself to get a good feeling.”
