The WSBK triple entente has proper names: Alvaro Bautista, Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu. The three protagonists of the 2022 season have managed to leave memorable overtaking on the asphalt, a rivalry that has aroused the curiosity of many fans who are increasingly interested in the WSBK.
The person in charge of staining the podium of the highest category with the Spanish colors spoke on this matter. In an interview granted to Motorsport.com, the driver from Talavera de la Reina, Álvaro Bautista , stopped to analyze the course of his season and that of his rivals.
Question: Aleix Espargaró is one of the riders who has given the most talk. Do you see any parallels between his season and yours?
Answer : I am very happy for him. We were teammates in 2005 in 125cc. I started the Aprilia project in 2015 with a hybrid motorcycle that we had. He follows the path and I am happy for him. It is very hardworking and may be a possible reflection of my career. We are both older and we are hard workers and we want to improve and always give a little more. 2022 is a season in which he is getting the most out of the bike and himself, and that is what is missing today in MotoGP. Those of today are not capable of getting 100% of the bike and 100% of themselves. He is doing it.
We want to make WSBK grow a little bit. The atmosphere is incredible and I advise people who are fans of motorcycling to visit a race in Spain, because it is totally different from MotoGP. You live it from within. Here he lacks a bit of following, but in Holland, England and other countries he is very followed and much admired. Let’s hope that little by little people understand that it is not inferior, but different and with a lot of competition. There is more spectacle today, I think that in MotoGP everything is much slower.
Question: The audience figures at WSBK are getting higher and higher, generating clear interest nationally and internationally. However, MotoGP is not experiencing its best moment numerically. What do you think are the reasons?
A: In Spain, WorldSBK looked like a second division championship, and I believed that too before I came. Now I think you can’t compare it to MotoGP. It’s super cute and I like it a lot. There is a lot of fighting and a lot of equality. Riders are no worse than those in MotoGP. What’s more, MotoGP riders have come here in the past and they haven’t done anything. It is a totally different championship and more and more people are following it.
An important factor for MotoGP has been the withdrawal of Rossi. The fact that he is no longer competing has caused many people to put him aside. Also, there has been a very rapid generational change. Suddenly in two or three years they were in a big hurry to bring in young drivers. Not just fans of Valentino [Rossi] anymore, but of many other riders, and I am one of them. I see that they have disappeared and giving way to almost inexperienced young drivers. The championship is crazy. I understand less and less about MotoGP racing. Some are fighting to win and the next not.
Q: Do you think that electronics has had something to do with it? Has the pilot stopped importing so much in the development and fine-tuning of the prototype?
A: Today, with so much electronics and technology on the bikes, they are easier to ride, in the sense that they leave less of the rider’s hand. There are many Moto2 riders who go fast and win MotoGP races. That when I was racing was unthinkable, because finishing in the top five was the super victory of the day. Now that was winning.
Now I don’t know, it seems that one arrives and beats you. Before, on a good weekend, you started fifth, because you had a [Casey] Stoner on a factory Ducati or Honda, a Rossi on a factory Yamaha, a Marc Márquez on a factory Honda, a Dani Pedrosa… You had rider names with a good hand on an official motorcycle, but now I don’t understand. I watch the races and say, ‘either I was a fool who wasn’t capable of winning or… I don’t know.’
Without taking credit away from any pilot, but I see so much equality that I don’t see the pilot as important. From the outside that’s what I think after three years out of MotoGP. I don’t think it’s the same as it was three or four years ago. I think that, in the pandemic, the fact of being with the frozen bikes has propelled the difference between the factory bikes and the satellite.
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