Bautista: ‘Stupid to think about the future, Mandalika will be a mystery’

With an 82-point lead over Toprak Razgatlioglu in the WorldSBK standings, Bautista has a big opportunity to clinch the title with one round remaining. 

Bautista needs to outscore the Yamaha rider by 17 points which he’s managed to do at two of the last three rounds.  

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The Ducati rider will be making his first appearance at Mandalika aboard the Panigale V4 R, although that was not a problem at rounds such as Estoril and Most as he claimed one win at each round.

With that said, Bautista is expecting the Indonesian circuit, which has undergone another resurfacing recently, to be the most difficult event of the year.

"Mandalika will definitely be a mystery for everybody, but a bit more for me because I’ve never been there with Ducati,” said Bautista.  

“It will be the second year with WorldSBK there; the track is quite nice but there are a lot of question marks about the asphalt because they resurfaced the track, so we have to see how the conditions are there. 

“Then, the weather will be another key point; it’ll be very complicated. I think, for us, we have to be very focused, especially on Friday because it will be important to get the reference on track with Ducati, try to get a good setup and be ready for everything because anything can happen. 

“For me, it's the most difficult race on the calendar. For me, it's more important to discover the track with Ducati and try to have the same feeling with the bike as we had all season. 

“The target is trying to get our performance and then we'll see. The Championship ends after Race 2 of Phillip Island; before that, it's stupid to think about the future."

If Bautista wins the title this weekend then it will mean Ducati have won the two biggest prizes in motorcycle racing in the space of just seven days.

Francesco Bagnaia won Ducati’s first MotoGP title since 2007 last weekend in Valencia, while victory in the WorldSBK championship for Bautista would also see the Italian manufacturer win both titles in the same year for the first time in their history.