Team Bimota Alstare’s baptism of fire at Motorland Aragon ended on a happy note, with Ayrton Badovini finishing in the top 13th overall and 3rd in the EVO class, in Race 1 and 12th overall and 3rd in the EVO class in Race 2. Team mate Christian Iddon rode solidly in Race 1, ending 17th overall and 7th in the EVO class, before enduring a DNF in Race 2. Apart from that, both riders were able to put in a substantial number of laps in the two 17 lap races today and give a lot of valuable feedback to the team. This is the first race weekend and although there is a lot of work to be done, the whole team now know much more about the BB3’s possibilities and are more than excited about the prospects ahead.
Ayrton Badovini – Race 1: 13th overall (2nd EVO class), Race 2: 12th overall (3rd EVO class)
“Considering that this is our first race weekend, I am happy and I think we’ve done a good job and maybe surprised a few people. I’m happy because I finished both races without any problems and I improved my feeling with the bike – especially in the second race. I’m sorry about my little problem at the start of the second race and I’m sure if I had made a better start, I would’ve finished higher up. After the problem, which caused me to lose some places, I settled down into a good rhythm and began to push much harder. We’ve a lot of work to do for the next race, but I am happy with our debut today and confident about our future.”
Christian Iddon – Race 1: 17th overall (7th EVO class), Race 2: DNF
“The first race was a great experience and a real milestone in my career. My debut in World Superbikes – and doing it with such a famous brand and with such a great team. I had a few (electronic) issues in Race 1, but I the team sorted them out for Race 2 and I was really looking forward to pushing much harder and exploring the bike’s potential. Everything was going well and Ayrton and I were having a good battle with a group of riders, but then I started to have a problem with my seat – it fell off! I carried on for about another four laps, but then the bike stopped. The seat has a sensor, which is activated when you crash, so I guess (because the seat fell off) the sensor thought I’d fallen off and cut the bike out. But, apart from that, I feel that it has been a very productive weekend for all of us in the team. We’ve learned a lot in such a short space of time and we’ll use that information to improve their bike next time out. As this was not one of my favourite circuits, I’m pretty happy with how things went this weekend.”
Francis Batta (Team Manager)
“I am very happy, because all the problems we had this weekend were just small details – ones that we know we can sort out. If Ayrton had started better, I think his results would’ve been much better, but once he settled down, his race pace was good and he was able to close the gap to the leaders in the EVO class. Christian made a good start to his World Superbike career. He approached his work in a professional manner and worked well with the team. I think he has a good future ahead.
The BB3 needs work for sure, but we’re talking about small things, not major action. There’s a lot of hard work ahead but this kind of challenge suits the ‘Alstare style’. I think we expected some big problems, so we’re delighted that, so far, we’ve only encountered small ones. We’re all excited about the bike’s prospects and we’ll be working flat out to realise its potential as soon as we can.
“Our objective is build 20 EVO bikes for clients, and they will have the same specification as our bike. We aim to sell these at 40,000 euros, but the final price will depend on what options the customer chooses. The first one will be the result of the development of our own bike – we want to make sure the EVO bike our client buys is perfect. These bikes will be built in our own workshops, in Belgium, and we hope to have the first one ready for sale from 1st September this year.”
