Alvaro Bautista: Aragon results don’t reflect our current situation

Round two of the 2021 WorldSBK championship rolls into focus this weekend, and for Honda it’s a chance to put Aragon behind them. 

As a team, Honda scored only 16 points from the three races - 8 apiece for Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam. 

Bautista was running in fifth place during race one with a real chance of the podium, before crashing out on the final lap due to an electronics issue. 

It was a problem that arose again on Sunday, while Haslam had power delivery issues before crashing in race two. 

But while the team’s performances were disappointing, Bautista does not believe Aragon showed an accurate representation of the ‘step forward’ made in 2021.

The former MotoGP rider thinks the ‘stop-and-go’ nature of Estoril can play to the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade’s potential. Bautista’s best result at the Portuguese track last year was a fifth place.      

"We have good feeling after the Aragón round, and I don’t think our actual race results last weekend really reflect our current situation," added Bautista. 

"We feel we’ve taken a step forward and have a good base on which to work and continue to improve this coming weekend. 

"I’m feeling confident, also because we scored a top five result here at Estoril last year. 

"So I think we can be competitive, at what is a different kind of track, more stop-and-go in layout compared to Aragón. Our aim is to work hard, just as we did last weekend, and bring home some strong results."

WorldSBK action begins Friday morning with FP1 at 10:30 local and GMT time.