Alvaro Bautista says his opportunity to replace the injured Jorge Lorenzo at the works Ducati MotoGP team for the Australian Grand Prix has come at his “best moment” of the season.
Lorenzo will sit out this weekend's Phillip Island race after undergoing surgery earlier this week on the fracture left wrist he suffered in a crash during FP2 in Thailand, which forced him out of the Buriram and Motegi races.
Nieto rider and soon-to-be works Ducati World Superbike man Bautista has been called up to replace the triple world champion, offering him up his first taste of the GP18.
Bautista believes the chance to replace Lorenzo comes at his “best moment” of the season, having finished inside the top 10 in all bar one race since Mugello, though has relatively low expectations for his debut factory Ducati outing.
“For sure, in Japan I'm so happy for the result because we worked really well during the weekend,” Bautista said of his fifth-place finish at Motegi.
“I think this opportunity arrives in my best moment, because I am riding really strong on the bike, so will be a new challenge for me this weekend because new people, new bike.
“So I have to adapt to the GP18. Also I think this track is not the best for Ducati, in the past we are struggling a lot, but we'll see.
“I will try to enjoy the weekend, try to learn and try to give all the information to the engineers.”
Teammate for the weekend Andrea Dovizioso has called Phillip Island an “important test” for the GP18, having finished a lowly 13th in last year's race, while Ducati has not won in Australia since Casey Stoner took victory in '10.
The Italian also has his sights set on increasing the nine-point gap splitting him from Yamaha's Valentino Rossi in the fight for second in the standings, after allowing his compatriot to close in when he crashed late on at Motegi and crossed the line out of the points in 18th.
“After Motegi my goal now is to stay in second place in the championship because Rossi is only nine points behind me, and here at Phillip Island – where I expect the Yamahas to be strong – it’ll be an important test for us because it’s one of the tracks where we tend to struggle a lot.
“We’re going through a positive period: since Brno we’ve always been fighting for the wins and we want to continue in this way, evolving the bike and improving even more.
“For sure it’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to try.”
