Bautista focused on 2023, Phillip Island ‘more important than everybody thinks’

With Phillip Island hosting the 2022 WorldSBK season-finale and opening round of 2023, this weekend’s races could be of greater importance given the quick turnaround.   

Bautista, who will be aided by Ducati in the form of a brand new Panigale V4 R for 2023, will start 2023 as the favourite to retain his title although Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea will again be pushing the Spaniard all the way. 

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Keen to make sure that work for 2023 starts as early as possible, Bautista is treating this weekend as a chance to generate as much data and performance as possible. 

Bautista said: "This weekend, I think, is more important than everybody thinks because they say it’s the last round, you have to be relaxed, you already won the title… but, for me, it’s important because all the data, all the good feelings we can get from this weekend, will be very important for next season because it’ll be the first round of 2023. 

"We’ll try to be focused, try to get all the data possible, try to have as much performance as we can because it’ll be important to start next season as strong as possible."

WorldSBK title celebrations to continue after Phillip Island for Bautista and Ducati

While celebrations following Ducati’s first WorldSBK title were held after Bautista clinched their first championship win since 2011, the quick turnaround made it difficult to enjoy the moment fully, which Bautista has confirmed will take place after this weekend.

"Basically, we tried to celebrate as much as we could," added the former MotoGP rider. "We had a team dinner on Sunday night, some beer, the guys from the team and not only me. 

"After that, a lot of flights to come here so not a lot of time to celebrate in a good way. In any case, the important thing is we got the title and after this weekend we have more time to celebrate with my friends, my family. 

"We have to keep focused to the last race of the weekend, to keep working here like we did in the rest of the rounds. After this, we have more time to celebrate!"

Pirelli introduces yet more new tyres

After bringing a different front tyre for Mandalika, various new options will be available for the likes of Bautista in Phillip Island.

There will be three rear tyres throughout the weekend, with one standard and two development solutions. 

The standard option is the SC0 solution and will be the softest tyre compound in Australia, however, its use is strictly for Superpole and Superpole Race. 

For races one and two there will be two development SC1 solutions available. The A1126 has a more robust carcass in comparison to the standard SC1 and is designed for higher temperatures, while the B0152 has the same compound as the A1126 but has a further evolution regarding its structure. The usual SCX or SCQ tyres are not available in Australia.