Misano WorldSBK: Bautista ‘feeling better than ever’

Alvaro Bautista took his official Ducati to a well planned and executed victory in the first WorldSBK race at Misano, putting in a new record lap on the 18th go-around a hot Misano circuit.

His 1’34.221 new race best was stunning to behold and he was asked how he managed it so late in the race.

“Today, the track was very difficult because it was very hot,” Bautista said. “In the practice, it was a new situation for everybody. I had a really good feeling with the bike from the beginning, but also I didn’t want to discover something on the track. So at the beginning, Toprak I saw him very aggressive to take the lead. I leave him to be leading. I saw he was struggling a lot for stop the bike and for entry. In that moment, I think I can pass him and go a bit faster, but I just stayed calm because it was the beginning of the race so no need to take some risk at the beginning.

“Then when Jonathan passed him, then I had to pass Toprak. So, I did it and I just stayed behind Jonathan. Lap by lap, I tried to not use tyres a lot because especially today we race with the new tyre. Nobody try long, long run, so I didn’t know what happens at the end. Just because I felt very good on the bike, I just decided to stay calm and just keep the pace that we were riding. But, it’s true that I felt that I can go faster. So, when it was ten laps to go, or something like that, I decided to try to pass Jonathan. It was not easy. I have just a few points to pass him. One of them was in the back straight, the fast corner. I did it.

“I tried to do my pace and see if Jonathan had more to push or not. Then I saw that the difference was increasing lap by lap, so just I was focused on myself. Tried to get the maximum but not over-pass the limit. So,