Aruba Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista will be forced to change his weekend strategy at Portimao’s WorldSBK clash in order to rest his still-injured shoulder.

The former MotoGP star, who will switch to Honda in 2020, will lap sparingly during Friday free practice and rely on the data gathered during testing at the Algarve track two weeks ago.

“The two days of testing we did here last week were very useful, even though I preferred to rest my shoulder on the second day because it was the first time I had been back on the bike since my injury at Laguna Seca,” said Bautista.

“I’ve had a few more days to recover, but during this weekend we might have to change our approach and try and rest the shoulder on Friday to be in a position to tackle the races in the best possible condition.

“Luckily, the two tests I’ve done at this circuit between January and now will be a great help, we have some markers, I know the track better and as a result it will all be a bit easier.”

Bautista injured his shoulder in a crash during the Superpole race at Laguna and it is still proving troublesome for the Spaniard.