The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosts the second round of what is shaping up to be a vintage 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. The Catalunya Round, always one of unpredictability and surprises â despite dominance in the past two years by Ducatiâs Alvaro Bautista â is set for more shocks and surprises this year with a vast array of riders in contention for the rostrum.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK): â15 or 16 riders can challenge for the podiumâ
Leading the Championship standings, Alex Lowesâ hopes this weekend are solid top six finishes: âThereâs not that much grip available so tyres are spinning a lot and with the front tyre, to make the bike turn, itâs using a lot of the tyre. Thereâre 15 or 16 guys that can challenge for the podium. Small details really matter during the weekend and doing the work in practice. Once the race weekend starts, different situations arise. Problems, things donât go the way you want, things go better than you expect and itâs about managing these when the pressure is on. Pereâs been there and he can relate to a little bit more. Three top six positions, depending on how the race goes maybe we sneak a podium, at a track we know isnât one of our best would be good for us. Sam was one of the fastest guys at the test. If the weekend starts well for him, he has to be confident. Axelâs a good guy to be around, younger than me, but itâs his fourth year in WorldSBK. He deserves a factory ride. He needs to transition but heâs doing a good job and heâll get stronger and stronger.â
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing â Ducati): âAustralia was a dream debut weekend, butâŚâ
A memorable weekend, under the lap record in testing in Barcelona last week and with big hopes, Nicolo Bulega is the rider in form: âI have a very good motivation because in Australia, we had an incredible first week and then we had a test here in Barcelona and my feeling with the bike was very good. I think I have a good bike and package. I am feeling good with my bike. If we continue to work like this, we can be competitive. Thereâs no pressure. Australia was a dream debut weekend but here is a completely different story, the asphalt is completely different and different conditions. If I can also be fast here, itâs very good for me.â
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team): âIâll try to winâ
Cards on the table and leaving nothing in the locker, Toprakâs approach this weekend is to get BMW to the top step: âI like this circuit, just it has the problem of the grip. In testing, we find some good setups. I hope this weekend, my feeling is good, especially with the grip and that Iâm fighting for the win. Itâs a very difficult track for everyone. After some bad luck, BMW are working a lot; it looks like everything is fine. I asked for a new seat position, BMW immediately made it but Iâll use it at Assen. In the Superpole Race in Australia, Alvaro didnât pass me on the straight; this is very good. In general, Iâm very happy because the bike is very fast on the straight. In testing, I was worried because the pace wasnât strong, especially on day two. Then, we found some setup, we had a good race pace in a 12-lap race simulation; all laps were in the 1â41s and really strong lap times. I hope we are in the top three or four but Iâm ready to fight in the last laps. The target is to win, or the podium. Realistically, my target is the podium. It looks possible. In the race, if Iâm feeling the potential for the fight, Iâll try to win because Iâve never won here.â
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing â Ducati): âI donât feel like one of the favourites for the titleâ
Ruling out his âfavouriteâ label, Alvaro Bautista isnât convinced of a third straight Catalan triple: âItâs always very, very special to race at home and Catalunya is a circuit I like a lot and in the past, Iâve done really well at. This year is a bit different to the others; my condition is not the best like in other seasons. I feel better physically but the feeling with the bike is still not 100%. On Thursday in the test, the feeling with the bike improved through the day but then on Friday, after rain overnight, it didnât help me to get a good feeling. I struggled to get grip throughout the day and the feeling was a bit worse than Thursday. Thereâll be a small change on the bike with setup to adapt to the new weight rule. I donât feel extra pressure; the pressure I feel is from myself but not to win, get a podium but to get a good feeling with the bike. If I can ride like last year, I can be competitive but if not, we canât fight for anything as the level of the grid is higher and itâs more difficult. Nicolo is very strong, young and has a lot of talent. He got a feeling with the WorldSBK bike very fast and heâs going very fast. At the moment, I donât feel like one of the favourites for the title, as Iâm not feeling at my best.â
Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha): âA podium is a realistic targetâ
Looking to be back at the pointy end and with a rostrum his aim, Jonathan Rea said: âItâs a nice track and we have an added benefit of testing here last week, so we already feel ahead of the race weekend. We got rid of some of the confidence issues I had in Australia and drew a line under some of the issues from a setup point of view. After the crash, Iâm fully recovered. WorldSBK is so competitive, not just for the front positions but if you have a tough weekend, youâre going to be down the order by quite some way. We still need to improve the tyre consumption although the most positive thing is we did the race simulation and we know how the bike behaves. We know the last couple of laps here can be critical. I think a podium is a realistic target but weâre still some way off targeting a race win, but that battle for the podium is hotly contested so I expect it to be a lot of guys, but I feel like one of the guys that can fight for that.â
Xavi Vierge (Team HRC): âIf the races were on the straight, weâd win!â
Ready to get down to business and fight for a strong home result, Xavi Vierge said: âIâm super excited, itâs one of my favourite races on the calendar. Itâs super special, all my friends and family will be here. Itâs true that the track has a lack of grip, but the straight is long and itâs one of the things that helps us. Every year, weâre able to get great results here. We had the test last week with plenty of laps to understand everything and find a good way. Our situation is that we canât focus on a plan for me to test many different items, so this makes it difficult to extract maximum performance. Thanks to the test, we have a clear plan. A result thatâll make me happy is trying to fight for the podium but, realistically, weâre not ready yet. A great result here would be trying to fight inside the top six. If the races were on a straight, weâd win! We have a super powerful engine, our top speed is good. Unfortunately, we have problems and have to exit the corner.â
Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven): âEverything is possibleâ
Not ruling anything out and with one eye on a strong result, rookie Andrea Iannone previews his weekend: âWe started the Championship in a good way in Australia, Iâm really happy and I didnât expect to be at this level. The test was important for us, after a long time; every day I improved a little bit and itâs important to do some kilometres. That helps me to understand a little bit more the tyres, because thatâs the main difference with MotoGPâ˘. We worked well with the team, the support from Ducati is good and I think we are on a good way. If Iâm in front, Iâll try and manage the tyre, if Nicolo is in front, heâll push every lap. After a long time, we come back to Europe, Iâm happy with the support, weâll try our best to get a good result. Everything is possible; weâll fightâ.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha): âNever say never⌠we showed our potentialâ
So close in Australia, will âLokaâ fight for a first victory in Barcelona? âIâm feeling better, after the test I felt pain in my left knee, but I improved this week. Itâs important to get back on track because the feeling at and after Phillip Island was amazing. This is another track, but we can be fast. Never say never because the potential we have is quite high. We need to take an opportunity. This track is tricky at the end of the race with the tyre. I think we can stay in front during the race. At Phillip Island, we were close to fighting for victory but lost that chance. We are really close and have many races this year, so the target is to bring home a lot of podiums and, at the same time, is trying to fight for the win. I believe in it. We showed our potential. I hope it comes sooner rather than later but we will have an opportunity!â – WorldSBK
