Mandalika WorldSBK: Alvaro Bautista: ‘Maybe 60 will become 62’, unimpressed with conditions

Alvaro Bautista’s wait to become WorldSBK champion goes on after finishing second in Race 1 behind Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Locatelli WorldSBK Mandalika
Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Locatelli WorldSBK Mandalika

The Ducati rider made a great start as he moved up from fifth to third by turn one, however, difficulties overtaking outside of the racing line saw the series leader make a mistake that allowed 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Jonathan Rea to come back at the Spaniard.

After failing to overtake 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Andrea Locatelli at the🔯 first attempt on lap three, Bautista eventually got 𒊎the better of the Yamaha rider before doing the same to Rea a few laps later.

And although he was offered a rare chance to close in on Razgatli♏oglu and fight for the win when the race leader ran off track at turn eight, the pace that was set by Razgatlioglu after that was too much to handle.

When asked whether he felt he could challenge Razgatlioglu if he managed to get away with the Turkish star, Bautista said: "No! Sincerely, Toprak is in a good level and it’s true that I’🔥m also missing some front feeling with the tyre. 

"Pirelli didn’t bring the tyre that I normally use so yesterday I struggled and today as well. We are trying to make it work but this tyre for me is💯 more difficult. 

"It doesn’t allow me to be precise and I made one mistake. This is the worst track to make one mistake. Coꦯngrats to Toprak today. The maximum I could do today was second." 

Soon-to-be WorldSBK champion Bautista unhappy with conditions in Mandalika

While the level of grip was clearly better than the opening day of prac🍌tice, Bautista believes the racing line remains just as small, thus a costly mistake is very easy to make.

Alvaro Bautista, Indonesian WorldSBK. 12 November
Alvaro Bautista, Indonesian WorldSBK. 12 November

Citing 60 centimetres as the maximum width for how much grip💃 was available after FP2, Bautista sarcastically said ‘maybe it’s 62’ now.

Speaking after Race 1, Bautista s♐aid: "We only have 60 centimetres🧸 of asphalt. I don’t think [it will improve]. Maybe instead of 60 centimetres it will be 62. 

"The problem is that tomorrow it will be even worse because there will be even 🌃more rubber on the good ar🦂ea and the difference then is even bigger. 

"This morning in Superpole I did turn five, six and seven and I just ꦿput the front [tyre] on the black line but the rear was just a bit outside and I was all the time sliding. 

"It’s not easy to do a race with this condition. It’s clear that it’s for everybody but for me, this weekend is very tough. Patient, 💖tri𒊎ed to get the maximum and that’s what I did."

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