Oli Bayliss is adamant he will be fit for next month’s Supersport World Championship test after breaking an ankle in his first run on-track with the Barni Racing Team.
Bayliss highsided exiting Turn 5 at Portimao on the opening morning of testing and is currently out of action, with just over a month until he is due to ride his Ducati Panigale V2 again at Misano.
However, he expects that making that appointment will not be a problem.
“The next time we’ll be on track with Barni Racing is the 16th and 17th of March, at Misano,” the second-generation rider noted.
“I’m going to be well fit by then and we’re going to make sure in these next, I guess, four weeks, we’ll do everything we possibly can to get me a hundred percent.”
Explaining how the crash happened, Bayliss said his bike initially felt “completely different” to that which he had been riding in Australia in recent weeks, but suspects he simply made a mistake.
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“We’re at Portimao and it’s such a cool track; it’s a big learning experience as well,” said the 18-year-old.
“We go out, we feel not horrible on the bike, but just not normal. We’ve got the same bike at home, we’ve been doing riding, and two completely different feelings.
“But, we start doing some laps; the feeling comes, comes, comes. Maybe I get a little bit too excited and a bit too much gas; big highside out of [Turn] 5.
“I can remember crashing, but I don’t really know how I landed; I think my foot might have got crushed under the bike and it’s resulted in me spending a couple of hours at the hospital and getting a cast on my ankle.”
Despite all of that, Bayliss remains confident about his rookie season in WorldSSP.
“Leading up to Portimao test, I was so excited, and then this happened and it’s kind of knocked me down a little bit,” he added.
“But I know we can be pretty fast and it’s going to be a tough year.
“It’s such a strong championship this year but we’re going to do our best and see what we can do. We’ve got a good package and I’m keen.”
Much of the Superbike World Championship field was also testing, with both 2021 champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and six-time champion Jonathan Rea on lap record pace.
Using the new Pirelli SCQ tyre, Yamaha’s Razgatlioglu went as quick as a 1:39.616s while Kawasaki’s Rea clocked a personal best of 1:39.851s.
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