It was a dramatic weekend for Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), starting the Pirelli Portuguese Round with a positive Friday to eventually battle for the victory on Sunday. However, Bautista would score no points in Race 2 after crashing out at Turn 5, while battling Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) for victory. Even though no points were scored in Race 2, the #1 remains positive after he believes a step was made.
After finishing Friday in P2, the Spaniard then entered Superpole, placing on the second row of the grid after finishing the session in sixth position. After earning a strong spot on the grid, things soon went downhill at the start of Race 1, dropping outside of the top 10 on the opening lap. This led to a thrilling race, as the reigning World Champion battled through the field to cross the line in second. On Sunday, Bautista struggled at the start of the Superpole Race, dropping down to ninth on Lap 1 before battling back to sixth after 10 laps. However, in Race 2 Bautista made a better launch, beginning to push early before soon entering the podium positions.
Speaking about the weekend overall, Bautista said: “It is strange because I feel good, I am happy because the feeling with the bike is coming back. Yesterday we had a good race, a good performance and this morning in the Superpole Race, we also had a very bad start and it was more difficult to recover the distance in 10 laps but I was second fastest on the track in the Superpole Race. In Race 2, the conditions were tricky because the wind was too strong, so you have to understand which corner is worse. I didn’t make a really good start but not as bad as yesterday, so I could recover positions soon and I understood how the wind affected the track.”
In the closing laps, Bautista began to reign in Razgatlioglu, who had suffered damage earlier in Race 2 after contact with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). However, the #1 began to battle for the lead with Razgatlioglu before everything unfolded at Turn 5 as Bautista lost the front – tumbling down the order. This mistake cost Bautista vital points in the Championship as he crossed the line in P19 on Sunday.
Bautista discussed the intense battle with Toprak in Race 2: “The feeling on the bike was good, I could catch Toprak and it was the first time basically this season that I could do it, so I felt strong. In that moment maybe I felt that I could relax some laps and then attack but it has been a long time since I have fought for victory and I wanted to make a show and to try and play a little bit and have some fun with Toprak. Then unfortunately at Turn 5 he passed me and went a bit wide, I tried to close the lines and then I lost the front. It was a pity because the performance was really good, I felt really strong and for that, I say that I feel good because I can start to ride the bike how I want.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com