Alvaro Bautista at Hungarian WorldSBK with “no expectations” but “a lot of confidence”

After finishing a close third in Race 2 at the UK Round, Alvaro Bautista arrives in Hungary for this weekend’s Hungarian WorldSBK with “a lot of confidence”.

The two-time World Superbike Champion caught and almost passed his teammate, Nicolo Bulega, for second in the final race at Donington two weeks ago.

Balaton, on-paper, is a much different circuit to that of the UK Round with its many slow speed chicanes, and so, while he is arriving with confidence this weekend, Bautista says he is focused to “discover the secret” of the new venue.

“I’m arriving with a lot of confidence, especially after the last round,” Alvaro Bautista told WorldSBK.com.

“We worked really well during the weekends, but I have no expectations for my results.

“I’m focusing from Friday on to try to learn the secret of the track. I think it’s a very particular track, it has lots of slow points.

“We need to discover the secret, set a good reference and try to enjoy the track.

“I don’t think there are tracks that favour one thing over another, I think it comes down more to how you manage the tyres and how you set your reference.”

The circuit was resurfaced after complaints were made by the riders about the condition in some of the chicanes, as referenced by Danilo Petrucci on Sunday at Donington.

Bautista noted it will be important to evaluate the resurfaced sections.

“It’s always exciting to race at a new track,” said Bautista.

“We did a test with a street bike a few weeks ago to get a first look at the track. It’s a very different track from the others.

“After the resurfacing, we will have to see how it feels.”