Bautista will start 11th in MotoGP at Motorland

Alvaro Bautista, rider of the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team, has qualified 11th, so everything is still to be done ahead of the race. After 26 laps the best time set by the Talavera native was 1:49.883, which relegates him to the fourth row, unable to follow the line of his previous races.

Even so, we saw him running between fifth and seventh in several sessions. Tomorrow lower track temperatures are expected, which could be both good and bad.

On the positive side, if the conditions allow him to use the soft tyre without excessive wear, on the negative side, he may not manage to warm up the rear tyre and things could get worse. Let’s hope it works out for the better, that’s for sure.

Qualifying took place in extremely high temperatures, and humidity was also a factor. The weather for tomorrow is uncertain: in some places rain is forecast, in others they say it will come but far from the circuit. We’ll see what happens.

Statements:

Álvaro Bautista (#19) (11th 1:49.883)

I’m not happy with the position because we are very far back, but the lap times are very close, just 3 tenths from the second row, which shows how close we are. I did a lot of running on the hard tyre and after a race simulation I started to slide a bit, but I don’t think I’m the only one, it’s the same for everyone. In the end, on the soft tyre I improved my lap time, but I made a mistake in the last two laps, and that’s why my grid position is what it is.

Tomorrow I’ll try to get off to a good start and overtake as many riders as I can in the first laps. I think that if I get away well and am in the second group I can fight with them; Stoner and Pedrosa are very strong and will probably pull away. I’ll push to the limit to get myself into a good position and fight to the end.

Paul Denning (Director of the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team)

Eleventh is below our expectations and also below the potential of the rider and the bike. In qualifying we are still missing the spark that would put us in the second row. That said, some of our best races have come starting from the fourth row, and tomorrow will be a big challenge for all the riders in terms of maintaining a consistent pace throughout the race.

I think we are in good shape, we can do well and greatly improve on our qualifying result in the race.