Alvaro Bautista explains first stint time loss in Australian WorldSBK Race 1

A third-place finish for Alvaro Bautista in the opening race of the 2025 World Superbike Championship was not a sign that he is back to his dominant best this year, but it was at least an indication that he is better prepared for this year than last.

The 2024 season began switch a crash for Bautista, who came into the season having suffered vertebrae fractures during the winter and having struggled to adapt to the new ballast-based performance balancing rules.

However, the three-time World Champion had the second-fastest lap time in Race 1 of the 2025 edition of the WorldSBK Australian Round, and, given an extra lap, may have finished second after closing down a gap of around 1.5 seconds to Toprak Razgatlioglu down to only 0.3 seconds by the chequered flag.

“For sure, we started a bit better than last year, but especially because we keep growing the confidence with the bike,” Bautista told WorldSBK.com.

“Today the conditions were extreme because it was too hot and too windy – especially exiting from turn two the bike was always with a lot of leaning, you can’t pick up and go straight because the wind [would] just push you out.

“I nearly crashed or went out of the track a couple of times exiting turn two and also turn three.

“For sure it was not very comfortable to ride in this situation, but I tried to understand.”

Bautista started the race in the top-three, but he was caught up, during the first part of the race, in a problem for Andrea Iannone who slowed through turn three.

“In the first stint I had a problem with [Andrea] Iannone because he had a problem and he just [went off] the line,”Bautista explained.

“I passed him but it was in the same time that there was a yellow flag, so I had to give again my position. The problem is that we were in a group, so, when I tried to let one rider pass, three riders passed me, so I lost a lot of time.

“I think it marked basically my race because then I started to fight in the group and I couldn’t ride as I wanted because with the other riders it was difficult, also the wind made a lot of turbulence so I struggled a little bit more when I was in a group.”

He added: “I think with the first tyre I felt not so bad in the first few laps. So, I think if I didn’t have to give my position back and don’t lose a lot, I was able to get the pace, the rhythm, the confidence, and maybe I can push harder in the first part of the race.

“But I found it like that, and I cannot do anything, so I just have to do my best and try to get the maximum.”

The second stint saw Bautista move clear in third place and eventually begin closing in on Toprak Razgatlioglu for second, but he ultimately came up a few tenths short.

“The second tyre was a bit easier, just Toprak [Razgatlioglu] was in front of me,” Bautista said.

“I tried until the end to catch Toprak but today I went [wide] many times in some corners, so at the end, with this condition, it was better to secure a solid race, some points, and then in the places or the moments, the situations that we can push harder we will do.”