The 39-year-old Spaniard who finished 6th on Sunday’s Superpole Race after starting from 13th on the grid has made impressive performances in Cremona despite his injuries. Working his way through the field from sixth through to second in Race 2, he said: “It’s a very positive day, today I feel better riding the bike, I had less pain than yesterday so for me that is very important. Starting from the back in Superpole Race was tough, but I managed to recover positions and put me in a good position for Race 2.”
“I know the first few laps in Race 2 were critical for me. I needed two or three laps to forget the pain and just concentrate on riding. I was faster than yesterday, the feeling with the bike was really good. When I was in the podium position it was nice, but I said okay keep the same pace and see if I can catch Petrucci and Bulega who dropped in yesterday’s race. I stayed calm and tried to pass Bulega in a safe place, I saw in the back straight Bulega was braking really hard, so I thought I could take slip stream and managed to pass him. I then had space to keep pushing. Second place is really good because Thursday I did not know if I could ride the back but now, we finish with two podiums.”
Third in the Championship Title battle, Bautista responded to comments about team orders in helping with his championship position: “We don’t have team orders, but the team only ask for respect and to be as clean as possible on the track. Whoever is faster will win. I try to respect the other riders and my teammate.”
“The situation for me is not the same as the other season but the most important factor is I arrive in the best physical condition for the next round, I need to recover now. For sure I would like to race the same at Aragon as Danilo raced here because he won three races at his home round so ask him to help me get faster.”
In the Championship standings, Bautista is in third position on 283 points. He’s 69 points behind Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in second place.
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Source: WorldSBK.com