Alvaro Bautista returns to the track where he claimed his title as the Championship leader after Round 1
The Mandalika circuit hosted its first WorldSBK race in 2021 with an incredible title decider between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea and decided the outcome of the 2022 Championship.
Lombok provides stunning scenery all around the circuit with incredible coastlines on one side and beautiful hillsides and lush countryside on the other, making for a stunning location for exciting racing in WorldSBK.
MANDALIKA’S HOT SPOTS WITH LORIS BAZ
T1: “T1 is not really difficult. It is a case of hard braking and trying to make the apex really nicely. You just need to be precise there.”
T10: “I think this is the corner where you see the most mistakes in the race. You always want to ‘over brake’ there, because you always feel like you’re too slow and you brake too late. If you are behind someone it’s a really nice spot to try to outbrake someone.”
T16: “Don’t listen to your brain so much. It tells you to release the brake because you’re too slow – but you are not too slow, you are too fast. Super-slow in T16, then short acceleration. Yeah, a lot of exit power there you can give us a lot of power.”
What to look out for in MandalikaAlvaro Bautista sits at the top of the Riders’ World Championship after his Australian hat-trick. The 2022 WorldSBK Champion returns to Mandalika, where he claimed his title, with a 28-point advantage over second-placed Andrea Locatelli. Bautista’s teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi also had a good first round of the season and occupies the third place in the standings, his best classification so far.
With three top five finishes at Phillip Island, including a third place in Race 2, Andrea Locatelli is second in the Championship standings, his best-ever position, with 34 points. In 2022, he claimed a third position in the Tissot Superpole Race and two fourth places in Mandalika’s long races, making the Yamaha rider one to look out for at the Motul Indonesian Round.
After a mixed weekend in Australia, Jonathan Rea will aim to bounce back in Indonesia where he has a strong record, with five podium places scored in all five races held at the venue, including two wins in 2021.
Following his DNF in Race 2 at Phillip Island, Toprak Razgatlioglu will be eager to recover and move up the order in the standings, having only scored 23 points over his Australian campaign, giving him sixth place in the standings. Mandalika is a special track for him, as he won the 2021 title there and achieved a track-trick of wins in 2022. – www.worldsbk.com
