Alvaro Bautista needs “to do one step” to fight for Aragon WorldSBK victory

Twice a winner at the Aragon WorldSBK in 2024, Alvaro Bautista is uncertain of his capability to win races at the 2025 edition of the MotorLand race.

Bautista enters this weekend’s Aragon Round still without a win in 2025, and 36 points behind third-placed Danilo Petrucci in the riders’ standings.

The Spanish rider was fifth-fastest in Friday’s FP2 session, and ended the day feeling something familiar for most of the WorldSBK this year: that he would need to find improvements if he is to battle for race wins.

“For sure, we need to do one step [more] because Toprak [Razgatlioglu] and Nicolo [Bulega] are a bit faster,” Alvaro Bautista told WorldSBK.com.

“But here, in the races, [things] change a little bit compared to the practice, especially for us that we worked for the race pace and the feeling to push. 

“Today I felt [...] more comfortable riding. 

“It’s true that maybe this track suits very well to my riding style and maybe is easier than in other places. But I’m confident because I think I learned something today and, in fact, I can change a little bit my riding in the last two laps in FP2, and with the tyre with 20 laps I was able to do 1:49.2 in the last two laps. 

“So, that was because I understood more or less how to manage the tyres in that moment. I’m happy for that.”

Bautista explained that he started Friday with a different setup to address some of the feeling issues he’s faced with the Panigale V4 R in 2025.

“This morning we started with a bit of a different setup on the bike compared to the other rounds because, after the feeling I had during the year but also at the last race in Magny-Cours, at home I was thinking about the feeling and how can we improve or make the next step,” the two-time World Superbike Champion explained.

“So, for [Friday] we started with a bit different setup and straight away I felt much better, especially less on the limit, so more margin [to push]. 

“So, in FP1 I was quite happy, and the afternoon we tried to adjust a little bit the setup. We did the first exit and it didn’t work so well, but we [reversed the changes] in the second exit and definitely we found something that helped me, especially with the tyre contact. 

“I think we worked really well because we used only one set of tyres in the morning and one set of tyres in the afternoon and we were quite consistent. 

“So, the feeling with the bike was good, I can ride the bike more or less as I want, and especially I felt more safe riding the bike so I think it’s been positive.”