TALKING POINTS AHEAD OF DONINGTON: “I’ll be on the grid next year… it’s a real home race!”

From 2023 mumblings to this weekend’s pondering, there was plenty of chatter going on ahead of the Prosecco DOC UK Round

The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has touched down at Donington Park in the United Kingdom ahead of the Prosecco DOC UK Round, the fifth round of the season. As is usual on Thursday, the media centre was a hive of activity with plenty of gossip about 2023’s silly season, which manufacturer should shine brightest this weekend, teams and riders testing at Suzuka and – for once – the British weather shining down on what is set to be a sun-soaked weekend of action. Here’s the best quotes from the main stars of the show.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati): “This weekend will be very tough for us”

“I am so happy so sign again with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati because I feel so good with the team riding the bike and I’m enjoying it a lot. I know I’m a bit old to be a rider, but I feel like I am in the best moment of my career, physically and mentally. I have a lot of motivation and now, I’m a bit more relaxed in my mind because I can work more focused on 2022. I remember three years ago, it was my first time in this track after many years. I don’t know if it’s the layout or whatever but it’s always difficult for Ducati at this track. Let’s see what happens this weekend; I don’t have any expectation, just to start on Friday with the good feeling I had with the first four rounds of the season and let’s see if I can be competitive as I was at the other track. For sure, this weekend will be very tough for us.”

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK): “In the next days or weeks, there’ll be a communication… I’ll be on the grid next year in WorldSBK!”

“I’m excited because after Misano, we did some testing at Aragon and also Suzuka for the 8 hours. Donington is my home race and I have a lot of fans travelling from Northern Ireland, so I’m excited to see what we can do. The good old British weather looks like it’s going to look down on us and the sun’s going to shine, so I’m excited for a cool weekend. We’re always improving the bike step-by-step and we learnt a lot of things about the bike in the hotter conditions, so we’ll be better equipped to go through the summer races which is really important. Alvaro’s deal is a natural step, he’s doing a good job and he’s competitive, so it’s only natural to continue. About me, it’s that time of the year. One thing for sure is that I’m not going to stay at home and watch the races; my manager is coming here this weekend and he’ll understand everything. Then, in the next days or weeks, there’ll be a communication. It’s exciting times but I’ll be on the grid next year in WorldSBK and I can’t wait!”

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK): “Very happy to come to Donington Park, my favourite track!”

“I’m very happy to come to Donington Park, my favourite track, I love it. I hope to be fighting again for victory but we will see. Today, I saw Race 1 again because of the incredible start and after two laps, I was leading. I think in my career, this is an incredible race. This weekend, we will try again! After the WorldSBK bike, the MotoGP™ bike was totally different, but I really liked the braking and the gearing, it’s incredible. We rode it for two or three hours but then it rained, so we went back to Barcelona but anyway, I was very happy, because after becoming World Champion in 2021, it was a nice gift.”

Iker Lecuona (Team HRC): “Mentally, I think I’m in the best moment of my career… I’m excited to jump on the bike and finish in front!”

“We did one test at Donington Park and then a two-day test at Misano, so honestly, I think the bike is improving. Step-by-step, it is improving and so is my feeling with it and the team during these tests made very good work so I think we can make a step at this track. I need to learn another track but I think we can make a step. Every week in between the break, I had something to do: Donington, Misano and Suzuka in Japan. I’m happy though, as it’s more laps with the bike, the team and I tried to learn as much as possible and I think I’ve improved my performance a little bit. Mentally, I think I’m in the best moment of my career and with this new challenge at Donington Park, I don’t care about my physical side, I’m just excited to jump on the bike and finish in the front!”

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK): “It’s a real home race… we’re going to have a full crowd!”

“I feel good, it’s a real home race and I only live about five minutes from this place, so I get to hear the bikes or the cars every day around here! We only get to ride here once a year, so I’m really happy that we’re going to have a full crowd so it’s going to be great with a good turnout. The weather looks like it’s going to be typical English sunshine, so I’m looking forward to the weekend. The Aragon test was pretty good because we had some new tyres at Misano that we didn’t get to test before the race weekend; it’s hard in a race weekend when you’re working on a setting, to try things, so we used this to try some new tyres, although they’re not here this weekend. To get testing in with hotter conditions was good for me in terms of managing those conditions. Then, we went testing at Suzuka before coming home, spending some time with my daughters and refreshing for this weekend.”

Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team): “If you get the podium once, you’ve got to be able to do it twice!”

“If you get the podium once, you’ve got to be able to do it twice! That would be nice. Everybody’s going really fast this year, it’s something that we see in the overall race times. The pace is a lot quicker especially with the front guys. For sure, the top three is at a really good level. I have the same bike as Toprak, and I should be able to do something. We’re going to start with the setup we had last year and go from there.”