Alvaro Bautista laments “short and poor” WorldSBK preseason tests

This winter’s preseason tests for the WorldSBK field have been entirely affected by weather, something which has frustrated Alvaro Bautista.

The Spaniard was unhappy with the windy conditions on the first day of testing at Jerez last week, then had his running limited by rain on the second day in southern Spain by like the majority of the field. In Portimao, wet conditions limited running on both days.

“It’s been very short and poor because we didn’t spend time on track with good conditions,” Bautista said of this winter’s two European tests when speaking to WorldSBK.com in Portimao.

“At Jerez, we had one day with strong wind that was difficult for the first day after three months. The confidence with the bike wasn’t the best. The second day was raining, so we got no laps on track.

“Here at Portimao, it was basically the same. The first day was wet in the morning and in the afternoon the track had some wet patches and stronger wind than Jerez; so not the best conditions to see something. [On the second day], with the rain again.”

Bautista concluded that he has “not had a good preseason”. Although he admitted that he is not unique in this, he was clear that his feeling with the Ducati Panigale V4 R is not where it needs to be with less than one month to go before the first race of the season at Phillip Island.

“We’ve not had a good pre-season, the same as everybody. I hope to use the two-day test before the race in Australia better and start to get some confidence.

“We made some tests with the bike, but we didn’t spend a lot of time in any one of the setups, so I don’t have good confidence with the bike, so I hope to build that in Australia and try to prepare well for the weekend.”

Bautista brought out the red flags around the midway stage of the day on day two in Portimao.

“I tried to start an exit on the wet,” he explained.

“The track was slippery and entering into turn nine I lost the rear without any warning. I had a big highside because that corner is quite fast.

“I have a big impact against the ground, with my left arm and hand. I think nothing is broken but, for sure, the hand is peeling a bit.

“In any case, I was lucky.

“We have two weeks to recover but, basically, I could do a couple of laps after the crash to check my position on the bike.

“I felt pain but the normal pain after a big crash like that. I hope to be without any problem for Phillip Island.”