Alvaro Bautista positive despite Portimao WorldSBK Race 2 crash

Alvaro Bautista has scored only one podium finish in the last two WorldSBK rounds, but the Spanish rider insists he’s making steps forward.

Bautista wasn’t on the podium at all at the Czech Round in Most, meaning his Race 1 podium last weekend at Portimao was his first since Race 1 at Donington three weeks previously.

Despite the lack of results, Bautista is convinced he’s heading in the right direction with the Ducati Panigale V4 R that he rode to the title in the past two seasons.

“The feeling with the bike is coming back,” Bautista said after Race 2 in Portimao, a race which saw him crash out of victory contention while battling with Toprak Razgatlioglu. “Yesterday, we had a very bad start but finished second. I was the second fastest on track in the Superpole Race. In Race 2 I lost a lot of ground at the start but the feeling was similar to yesterday.”

Although Bautista had a similar feeling with the bike as earlier in the weekend in Race 2, the weather conditions added complications.

“The conditions were a bit tricky today because the wind was too strong,” he said. “I understood more or less how the wind was affecting the track but the feeling with the bike was good. I could catch Toprak [Razgatlioglu] — it was the first time, basically this season, that I can do it.”

Bautista said that the amount of time he’d been without a victory affected how he chose to play his battle against Razgatlioglu.

“I thought maybe I could relax for a few laps and then attack,” he said. “But it’s been a long time since I’ve fought for victory, so I wanted to put on a bit of a show. I wanted to have some fun, and play a little with Toprak.”

The result of Bautista’s more aggressive strategy was ultimately a crash, which he explained. “Unfortunately, in Turn 5, [Razgatlioglu] passed me and went a bit wide. I tried to get back to the line but I lost the front. It’s a bit of a pity because the performance was really good.

“It’s Most and here that I ride the bike and I start to feel more like last year— maybe a bit more in the limit, but more similar. I’m happy, and now we have to make a reset and start from zero with this feeling with the bike.”

While Bautista’s general performance in Portimao was a continued step forward after he began to recover his feeling with the bike at the Czech Round, his starts suffered in Portugal. The reigning champion explained that this was down to a bad feeling with the clutch, as well as the longer gearing used in Portimao.

“During all the weekend, I don’t know why, I had some problem with the clutch. It was difficult to play with the clutch in the starts, [and] in the practice starts I didn’t make a really good start like in other weekends.

“Maybe also the gearing here is a bit longer and for sure to have a longer first gear doesn’t help [the starts]. We have to see, we have to analyse it. But, in the end, in other tracks, other races, I did good starts, so I think it’s just more down to the gearing than other things.”

The next round for WorldSBK is on 6–8 September at Magny-Cours. Bautista has picked up two race wins there in his career, having won Race 2 in both the 2022 and 2023 editions of the French Round.

Looking ahead to round eight, Bautista said: “I’m confident to enjoy the bike again. I had a good feeling this weekend, so I hope to go there and arrive to the performance that I had last season.”