Bautista claims first podium of the season, arrives at Jerez in ‘good spirits’

Fresh off his first WorldSBK podium of 2021, Alvaro Bautista will have the chance at repeating his Catalan success with a second consecutive home round in Jerez. 

Bautista finished P3 after getting the better of Alex Lowes and Michael Rinaldi during the Superpole race, before coming close to a second third place in race two. 

The former MotoGP rider finished fourth, two tenths behind Scott Redding and four tenths off championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu in second. 

"We arrive at Jerez in very good spirits after a positive weekend at Barcelona. We hope to have the same feeling and be able to work as well as we did last weekend," said Bautista.  

"Jerez is a slightly different track to Barcelona though, as although there are some long corners, there aren't so many straights so maybe we'll suffer a little more, but we'll see. 

"We completed a test recently so we have some references that will be useful. 

"We are always trying to improve and are currently fixing some details that are taking us in the right direction. I hope to have another good weekend in front of the Spanish fans."

For Bautista’s team-mate Leon Haslam, Jerez was an especially tough round for the Brit in 2020, however, a ‘very good’ test recently in hotter temperatures has the former BSB champion ‘quite positive’. 

Haslam added: "Jerez is a circuit at which I struggled a lot last year. Having said that, we made a very good test there in hot conditions not so long ago, and this is quite a positive sign because we generally struggle in high temperatures. 

"So hopefully this information can help us as we head into the race weekend. 

"Once again, we will be testing a series of things to see if we can improve our overall package."