Alvaro Bautista predicts Toprak Razgatlioglu to “be very competitive” at Aragon WorldSBK

MotorLand Aragon has been the location of some of Alvaro Bautista’s most devastating performances in WorldSBK, but he is not expecting to dominate in 2024.

Aragon is a circuit where Bautista has seven WorldSBK wins, but the Spanish rider was concerned as much with the prospects of some of his rivals as with those of himself when speaking to the media on Thursday, especially those of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea who both return from injury this weekend.

“It’s always special to ride at home,” he told WorldSBK.com. “Aragon is a track I like a lot and I have good memories from the past; I won many races here.

“We’ll try to create a good base to start the weekend and then try to improve practice by practice.

“I’m really happy that Toprak [Razgatlioglu] and also Jonathan [Rea] are fit. It’s always nice to see all the competitors on the grid.

“I hope Toprak can ride the bike as before without any problems and he doesn’t have more problems.

“If he can ride the bike as normal, I expect he’ll be very competitive and fight for the victory in all three races; he can defend the gap in the championship.”

Focusing more specifically on himself, and his recovery from the rib injury he picked up at Magny-Cours, Bautista detailed his physical condition over the past week, and offered a comparison between how he feels ahead of Aragon, and how he felt a week ago in Cremona.

“Now, I feel a bit better than in Cremona,” Bautista said. “The Monday after Cremona, I was a bit more destroyed because after all the effort I had to make and adrenaline had worn off, it was like my body was saying ‘Okay, you have to relax and stop just for a while’.

“I felt much better on Tuesday and Wednesday and today I’m improving. You can’t do anything special for this [injury], it’s just a matter of time.

“I’m not 100 per cent but I hope tomorrow, Saturday, and especially Sunday, I feel better and better.”