Alvaro Bautista's week at Phillip Island got off to an encouraging start, with an eighth place finish. After sitting out the wet tests in the pits at Portimão, the new Barni Spark Racing team rider finally got back into action on Monday's test day in Australia. He took advantage of the opportunity to get in some laps in dry conditions in order to improve his confidence with his new Ducati Panigale V4 R and start to get a feel for the bike before of the first round of the season.
"Today was a first day like no other because, in the end, this is the first test day. It went well because I got back on my bike, which I hadn't ridden in a while. We know that this is always a very special track, but it at least gave us our first impressions," Alvaro told our correspondent, Riccardo Guglielmetti. "Today, we didn't want to make any major changes to the bike so that we could understand it properly. But we have some ideas for tomorrow to improve the feeling, which isn't quite right yet."
How much does the new Panigale differ from the previous model?
"Honestly, I can't say how much it changes when riding it on this track. It's hard to say because there's less grip here this year than last year," the Spanish rider observed. " We'll have to wait for Europe, where we'll find more normal tracks, and the references will be clearer. This is a track where you know the grip is decreasing: two years ago the grip was fantastic, last year it had deteriorated a bit, and this year it's even worse. So it's difficult to understand how much is due to the bike and how much is due to the track."
Although the week at Phillip Island has just begun, Bautista already set some lap times that suggest he may have the pace to be on the podium.
"The podium will be decided on Saturday. Today is Monday, and there's still a long way to go. Like I said, today is the first day, and today's results aren't what we'll see over the weekend. Bulega is definitely fast, but the others are still an unknown," the two-time Superbike champion pointed out, dampening the enthusiasm a little. "We'll see. We'll try to work well."
After all, Bautista's situation is quite different today than it was in 2019, when he began his adventure with Ducati by dominating all three races of the Australian round.
"I also won in 2023," he recalled. "This track, like all the others, has become increasingly difficult since I've had ballast. I'm the only rider on the grid who uses it, but they're afraid to remove it. I don't know if they think I can win or what."
The 41-year-old then concluded by giving us his opinion on the possibility that Andrea Iannone could help Ducati test the Panigale, also in view of Michelin's arrival as the new tire supplier for the championship. "He's a good rider, but he hasn't found a place to race, so now he has to find other solutions if he wants to ride."