After winning his second WSBK championship, Bautista made his MotoGP comeback last weekend at the Sepang International Circuit as a wildcard rider for Ducati.
After missing the 2018 Valencia GP, where he rode a year-old Ducati managed by Aspar, Bautista did not fare well in his MotoGP comeback, qualifying second-to-last and placing 22nd in the sprint and 17th in the grand prix.
However, Bautista claims that a crash in a Superbike test at Jerez before receiving his wildcard left him with “no power” on the left side of his body, which had an impact on his performance. He made this claim after the grand prix.
I must admit that I struggled all weekend, but I refused to acknowledge it. After the race yesterday afternoon, I told my team about it,” Bautista disclosed.
“I had a really nasty collision in the Jerez test following the final race of the WSBK season. I suffered a head injury and some neck pain, but other than that, I was mobile and had no more issues.
“After that, on Friday, I began to feel as though I had no power in the left, particularly in the left corners. I spent a lot of time working with Quiron Health, a medical partner of MotoGP, but things kept getting worse.
“I’m quite upset with myself because I can’t enjoy myself or push myself very hard, even though I didn’t bike the way I wanted to.
“As a matter of fact, my colleagues who were analyzing the data from Friday consistently informed me that, while I was doing a great job on the first braking in the right turns, I was losing nearly a second in the left braking. Then why? I informed them that although I could have had confidence, I was unable to push.
“I lose some power when braking on this bike since you have to really push it. Not because of the outcome, but rather because I am unable to bike to my full potential, I am a little frustrated.”
In addition, Bautista mentioned that since he last competed in the competition, aerodynamics and ride height devices have improved, making modern MotoGP bikes considerably more difficult for riders to operate.
“I don’t remember, my last races in MotoGP I wasn’t too [far] back, so I had less riders in front of me,” he remarked in response to a question from Motorsport.com about what he thought had changed in the five years since he last raced a MotoGP bike.
“But you definitely had more opportunities in the past to handle the bike.
