Pull&Bear Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista believes he can challenge at the sharp end of MotoGP for the whole of 2017 and has set his sights on the top five despite the amount of factory opposition.

The Spaniard has been fast and consistent during pre-season testing and says he can carry that momentum forward, starting this weekend in Qatar.

“I am looking forward to getting started now, after a preseason during which we have worked hard to get to know the bike and the team. Every day we have felt more comfortable, we have done a good job and we go to the first round with a decent base to work from. We have already had three days in Qatar to prepare a little for the race because the conditions are different to usual,” sid Bautista.

“Hopefully we can reproduce the same feeling as at the test, continue to build and see if we can get back to the same level as then. I arrive feeling confident and now we will see how high we can go. My thoughts are the same as at the start of preseason and our objective remains to be a top five contender.

“Even though there are a lot of factory bikes and the level in this category is very high, I think that is something we can aspire to. We will fight our hardest, give our maximum and hopefully we can achieve it. If it doesn't happen this weekend, the season is long and the important thing will be to gain experience and improve our performance on this bike.”