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Aragon WorldSBK Race 1 restart leaves Alvaro Bautista without “any grip” | World Superbikes
Alvaro Bautista took fourth place in WorldSBK Race 1 at Aragon, despite feeling he lost front grip after the race was restarted.
The race was stopped after one lap after Sam Lowes crashed on his own leaking fluid between turns three and four.
When it restarted, Bautista felt he lost grip in his front tyre compared to the original start.
“For sure, today we did a good job in Superpole to have a good lap time and at least not start from the back,” Bautista told WorldSBK.com, before turning his attention to the race in which he came up short of the podium.
“In the race, in the first start I was quite comfortable, in the front group I was feeling that I’m here and riding very well.
“On the restart, I didn’t change the tyres because I had really good feedback from them so I prefer just to keep them and at least I had a good performance.
“But, I don’t know why, maybe start-stop and that kind of situation, when we restarted the feeling on the front was very bad — I don’t have any grip and I was struggling a lot to turn with the front tyre and, especially in long corners, I cannot turn on the front, so I have to use a lot the rear and I try to make the bike slide to turn.
“But it was difficult because I couldn’t have the same feeling as all the weekend.
“If we add that I had a lot of battles, I was fighting all the race, for me the problem was that I cannot push as I wanted.
“So, at the end I tried adapt, sometimes I thought ‘Okay, maybe if you risk a little bit more,’ but I cannot because every time I try I lose the front.
“So, at the end the maximum I can do is stay there on the front group and maybe, if they have some battle or something, I can gain some positions. But, today I’m not ready to fight for a win.”
Despite his inability to win on Saturday, Bautista felt that he needed no changes to his bike in order to improve for Sunday’s Superpole Race and Race 2.
“I think we have to change nothing, because all the weekend has been really good, I can ride the bike as I wanted,” he said.
“The problem, I don’t know if it’s to start and stop many times, that maybe the front tyre doesn’t make the materials work together and maybe I missed this working.
“I think the bike is working well, we have just to have a normal circumstance and normal working front tyre and that’s all. For tomorrow, we don’t change nothing because the bike, for me, is good, but we have to have the fingers crossed to have everything going well.”
“Bautista had been the victim of some strong passes at various points in the race. He was clearly not thrilled about them, but Bautista accepted that such moves are a part of racing.
“In the races, especially on the first corners, you have these kinds of moves,” he said. “In those moments, I just tried to avoid the contact, because they enter too much in the limit and the only thing you can do is just try to avoid the contact.
“But it’s racing, it’s normal everyone wants to push, especially when you are in the front group and you see the possibility to win a race.”
