Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) spoke about his ideal plan for the future for the first time at the Autodrom Most with the Spaniard revealing he’s in talks with Ducati to renew his contract. The revelation came after Bautista had a point-less Sunday during the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s visit to the Czech Republic, with the reigning Champion also reflecting on his incidents with Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) in the Tissot Superpole Race and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in Race 2.

THE FUTURE: “I want to continue… not fair to end my career like this”

Bautista’s future has been spoken about widely in recent weeks and the double Champion had reiterated his desire to first find the feeling with the bike before deciding on his plans. After a strong Friday at Most, where he said it was his best day on the bike, and good pace shown throughout despite a tricky weekend, it seems that decision has become clearer after revealing after Sunday’s Race 2 his desire to stay, while stating his manager – Simone Battisella – did have “other options”.

Speaking in his media debrief, the 39-year-old said: “Honestly, I want to continue. We’re speaking with Ducati to renew the contract. I feel that it’s not fair to end my career like this. I need to enjoy the bike again; I need to feel strong on the bike. After this weekend, where we have more things clear, we can start from here to improve. In the end, we’re speaking with Ducati to renew the contract. My intention is that. My main choice is to keep with the same team but it’s in Ducati’s hands as well, it not only depends 100% on me. It depends on Ducati. If Ducati wants to sign at World Ducati Week, they have to give me what I want. Battistella has other options, for sure, but I cannot tell you what they are. We have some Plan B.”

SUPERPOLE RACE: crashing while fighting with Bulega

Bautista may have been point-less on Sunday thanks to two Turn 1 incidents, but his pace for a podium was there. In the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race, the reigning Champion was fighting with teammate Bulega on the run into Turn 1, with both sliding their V4 R machines while running in P2 and P3, with Bulega ahead. Bautista tried to make the corner but ran into the gravel and came off his bike, dropping him out of contention, while Bulega was able to continue and finish second.

Reviewing the incident with Bulega, Bautista said: “Bulega braked really hard, I braked a bit harder! In one moment, if I tried to stop the bike more, I was risking hitting him. To avoid that, I released the brakes a little bit and it was enough to get to the gravel. Once the front tyre touched the gravel, I lost the front. I’m sorry for him because we were at the limit, but fortunately he could cut the chicane without consequence so I’m happy for him. It’s a normal battle in races. It happened in the last lap, it's logical.”

RACE 2: out of the race before it really began

Following on from his Superpole Race, where Bautista was not classified after taking the chequered flag in the pit lane, the Ducati rider started Race 2 from tenth place. He got a good start and looking to take the outside line around the right-hander of Turn 1 to move himself into the podium fight but found himself in the gravel trap after Petrucci came down and into the side of the #1’s bike.

Bautista also spoke about this crash, saying: “In Race 2, I had a really good start; it was like a rocket because I got to the first braking zone in third or fourth place. When I went into the corner, I saw Gardner on the inside. I had to keep the line to not touch him and close the corner, not on the line but a bit more on the outside. At that moment, somebody hit me, and I crashed. I reviewed the images on the TV. It’s clear that Petrucci didn’t have too much space, but he was behind, so he has to take care of the riders in front of him. This kind of corner is very tricky because we arrive very fast from the start point and the braking is hard, and we have to stop the bike a lot. What happened today is very usual to see, but I was a bit unlucky that I was there. Fortunately, physically, I’m okay.”

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