Bautista tests Ducati Desmosedici
After leaving the grand prix paddock at the end of the 2018 season and joining the Superbike World Championship, Alvaro Bautista was back on a MotoGP bike in June, testing the latest Ducati Desmosedici at Misano.
What’s been described as an “intense” two days on the factory Ducati saw Bautista reacquaint himself with a bike he hasn’t ridden in more than four years.
The 38-year-old Spaniard spent his first day at Misano getting to grips with MotoGP machinery and tyres again, covering 50 laps in the process. The second day saw Bautista focus on bike set-up and trying different tyre solutions, completing 49 laps.
After completing the test on the Desmosedici, Bautista conducted additional laps at Misano on his more familiar WorldSBK Ducati Panigale V4R to log some important practise time ahead of the Superbike World Championship resuming at Donington Park in July.
At time of writing, there was no suggestion that the Ducati test was being conducted with a view to bring Bautista back to MotoGP, but rumours are the Spaniard may gain a wildcard entry at a future round.
Bautista rode the Desmosedici for the last two of his nine years in MotoGP, with a best race result of fourth in 2018 on the factory bike and a best championship placing of twelfth in the same period.
"It was a good test. I had a lot of fun getting back on the Ducati Desmosedici GP and I'm satisfied with the work we did,” Bautista revealed.
“Between the first and second day, the feeling improved, also thanks to the team and Ducati, who put me in a position to adjust the bike with some changes that helped me feel even more comfortable. We also worked to find confidence with different tyre solutions and the results were tangible.”
While no attempts at lap records were made during the test, Bautista’s best time of 1’32.950 was little more than a second adrift of the MotoGP lap record at Misano. The time was logged during the fourth session on Day 2, using soft tyres and with a track temperature of 49° Celsius.
“The time? It's not important, also because I never pushed for the time,” Bautista added. “There was no reason to take risks. The future? After this good experience, I just have to think about the WorldSBK championship.”
