A run of 11 straight wins should have ensured Alvaro Bautista the 2019 World Superbike title, but a series of crashes and a relentless Jonathan Rea meant that the Ducati rider had to be content with second place in his debut season. A MotoGP veteran, Bautista joined Ducati for the 2019 season and straightaway set the stage on fire on Ducati’s brand-new V4 R bike. It looked like Bautista was the man to end Rea’s reign as the Spaniard held a 61-point lead after the Jerez round in June.
But, inexplicably, everything fell apart for Bautista and Ducati. So much that, when Kawasaki’s Rea went into the final race at Magny-Cours in September, the Northern Irishman was 104 points clear of Bautista. Rea duly wrapped up his title in France to become WSBK’s first five-time champion. Now with the last round of the season beckoning at the Losail International Circuit this weekend in Qatar, Bautista has come to terms with how his season has unfolded and chose to look at the positives.
“It was my first season in Superbike and I am happy with the results,” he said in an interaction with the media at the WHOTEL yesterday.
“To come second in the championship on my debut season is a good result for sure. We started the season in a good shape, winning lots of races. But as the season went on, we were hit by bad luck and also we raced on tracks which were new for us. Now I would like to finish the season on a high by winning in Qatar, where I have previously raced in MotoGP in 250 and 125cc. It will be bit different from MotoGP but I am looking forward to this weekend.
“I did not expect to win all the races I won so it’s been a positive season. Having said that, the kind of start I had to the season, I would have wanted to come into Qatar with my championship hopes alive. But this is racing and we have to accept the results,” the 34-year-old added.
Bautista felt his lack of experience at the WSBK and Rea’s undoubtable mastery of the championship played a vital role in the latter winning his fifth consecutive title. But Bautista was not taking anything away from Rea.
“My duel against Rea, who is the greatest rider of the Superbike, is not easy. What I saw, especially during the first part of the season is, he has lot of experience with his bike and with his team in this championship. They get maximum out of their bike in each race and for us it was everything new. For us sometimes it was easier and other times it was tough. In the end, I think we missed the experience with bike and with the championship and that was the key point. More than Rea and Kawasaki winning the championship, I would say we lost the championship,” Bautista lamented.
As a rider with 16 years MotoGP experience on four different brands of bikes (Suzuki, Honda, Aprilia, Ducati), Bautista was always going to be a serious contender in WSBK. But he surprised himself when he went on to dominate his first WSBK race weekend, making a clean sweep of three wins in Phillip Island in Australia to become the first rider since Max Biaggi in 2007 to win on his series debut.
Bautista had ran out of options to remain in MotoGP, having been part of the satellite Angel Nieto team in 2017 and 2018. In 158 premier class starts, the Spaniard managed only three podium finishes and one pole, but was a regular winner in the 250cc division and a champion in 125cc.
“The difference is huge, especially when you are riding the bike,” said Bautista, as he compared WSBK with the hugely-popular MotoGP.
“Unlike MotoGP, a superbike can be used in all conditions. It’s more gentle to ride, you feel the limit is more
closer to you. When I came here, I didn’t expect anything. I didn’t know the superbike, tires or about many tracks. Also in MotoGP there is only one race, but here we have three races,” he added.
For the 2020 season, Bautista will join the Honda factory team, after reportedly having a fall out with Ducati over contract extension. Honda has had little success in WSBK of late and is currently in the middle of a three-year podium drought. While Bautista was looking forward to his new stint at Honda, he is keen to sign off with Ducati on a winning now.
“It was not easy to make the decision,” said Bautista. “I was super happy to race for Aruba and Ducati. It has been a very positive experience to start with them, because they have lots of experience in WSBK. I learned a lot from them. We will see how it goes next season. At the moment, I am focused on finishing the season on a high with them in Qatar,” he noted.
Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista smiles during an interaction with the media at the WHOTEL yesterday.
