A new chapter in Alvaro Bautista’s racing career began in the 2019 season. After nine years in MotoGP, the Spanish rider moved up to the Superbike World Championship, which he managed to win last year and which he is dominating this season with an iron fist, having won almost every race. However, history has shown that it’s not always easy for MotoGP riders to be successful in production-derived racing.
“There are MotoGP riders who have moved on to the Superbike World Championship and haven’t managed to get good results here. Forecasts are difficult because the tires and bikes are different. Danilo Petrucci made the switch and realized it’s not easy The level is very high. You have to give everything to be fast here,” explained Bautista in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com.
The Spaniard would be very interested in the duels he could have in SBK with the MotoGP world champion, the Italian Pecco Bagnaia: “It would be interesting to see him here because he is very fast with the Panigale with which he trains”.
“Marc Marquez would be interesting too,” said Bautista, who also revealed that he tried to convince Dani Pedrosa to make the leap: “Last winter I spoke to Dani. I told him that Superbike with these tires is very good for the light pilots. I told him I enjoyed it. He said maybe he’d try it.”
As a KTM test rider, however, the number 26 doesn’t get the chance to do a Superbike test because the Austrian manufacturer doesn’t have a production bike on its race schedule. Furthermore, Pedrosa is busy in the MotoGP tests. In the last Spanish Grand Prix, which he raced as a wild card, it could be seen how fast the driver from Castellar del Valles is still, who was consistently in the top 10.
Dani Pedrosa, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
“I was very surprised,” admitted Bautista, watching Pedrosa’s performance at Jerez. “I don’t doubt Dani’s qualities. But as a test driver you lose some speed without constant competition. I was surprised by his performance.”
“He had to be careful not to make mistakes and not to make another rider angry. I think without these thoughts he would have gone even further. In practice he showed a very high pace. I’m really surprised and happy for him,” he concluded.
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