Alvaro Bautista may only be a few short months into his World Superbike Championship tenure but with an unprecedented 11 wins from 11 starts, the Spaniard has already made an indelible record-breaking mark on the series.
Though the impressive figures speak in part to the move to three WorldSBK races per weekend, Bautista’s performance is nonetheless eye-catching for the way he has dismantled the opposition in each of those four rounds.
Now the three-time MotoGP podium winner is taking his 100 per cent winning form on the new Aruba.it Ducati Panigale V4 R to Italy where he will look to maintain his perfect record in front of Ducati’s beloved tifosi.
The first circuit of the 2019 season he has never raced at previously, though Bautista had a chance to test at Imola last week, he admits racing at the ‘old style’ narrow venue will pose his biggest challenge yet.
“Two weeks ago I had the chance to test at Imola, a circuit where I’ve never raced before. It was very useful because now I have a few more markers for the weekend race. The track is a bit ‘old style’: it’s very narrow, with a lot of hard braking points, but it’s got a nice combination of fast corners.
“All things considered, it’s a fun circuit, even though I still have to interpret the lines better. It’ll surely be a great weekend and we hope to arrive at the same competitive level we’ve had so far.
“For the Aruba team’s and the Ducati factory’s home race, we absolutely want to be and must be on the top of our form!”
