«В 2019 году победили только я и Джонатан Ри; соперников было не так много» - Альваро Баутиста

Alvaro Bautista returns to Ducati after the Spaniard raced for Borgo Panigale in 2019. Since then, the championship has changed, and the Spaniard himself defends this thesis.

“I remember that in 2019 it was just Jonathan [Rea] and me, because if he won, I was second and vice versa. After all, there weren't many opponents. Fortunately, everything has changed. We have more riders fighting for high positions. It helps sometimes because, for example, in 2019 if we had more drivers fighting for the podium, maybe in some races I could earn more points, but I could also lose more points,” he reports worldsbk.com.

According to #19 itself, the Superbike World Championship is now more competitive and not just for riders: “It will be interesting. I think that the level of this championship is getting higher every year. Not only for drivers, but also for manufacturers. This season will be fun because we will have a lot of riders ahead of us.”

It should be noted that in 2019, in addition to Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista, three more riders climbed to the highest position of the podium: Michael van der Mark, Chaz Davis and Toprak Razgatlioglu. However, van der Mark and Davies won just one race each, while Razgatlioglu won the top two heats of Magny-Cours.