GERMAN GP - Brilliant Bautista takes fifth in Germany

2018-07-16 07:54
Ángel Nieto Team rider continues to improve and finishes as top non-factory Ducati at Sachsenring



Nine straight wins at any one circuit would be an astounding feat for any rider anywhere but that’s exactly what Marc Márquez achieved today at Sachsenring. The Spanish rider took a little longer than usual to make his way to the front, taking the lead on the thirteenth lap, but he managed the gap for the second half of the race to take the win with a two-second advantage. Team-mates Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales completed a podium that matches the top three in the championship, with Danilo Petrucci and Ángel Nieto Team rider Álvaro Bautista rounding out the top 5.

Álvaro Bautista and the Ángel Nieto Team have continually raised the bar this season with fifth place here outdoing the previous best of eighth at Jerez, as the Spanish rider crossed the line as the top non-factory Ducati. Bautista started from ninth on the grid but gradually edged closer to the front and finished just five seconds shy of the race winner. Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo were all caught and passed by Bautista, who claimed eleven points and lies thirteenth in the championship. The Ángel Nieto Team rider even improved on his excellent result of sixth here last season Karel Abraham gave his best in this ninth round of the season and was able to hang in with the chasing group before finally crossing the line in eighteenth position. The Czech rider struggled with rear grip and could not maintain fifteenth position after a great start.



5th Álvaro Bautista: “I think first of all, to finish five seconds behind the winner, is not easy. At Assen it was seven seconds and here we have closed the gap. I can’t say it feels like a win because I can’t taste the champagne but it is an important result because we have been on an upward curve since Jerez and it has put us on the right lines. Preseason wasn’t very long, we missed a couple of tests and we struggled a little at the start of the season to find the right way forward. In the race I felt stronger than Dovizioso and Petrucci but it was difficult to pass them. I lost three or four laps there that could have been very valuable. At the end of the race the rear tyre was starting to say ‘enough’ but I could see that Lorenzo was having problems and I was able to pass him. I am happy with the progress we have made, I feel motivated and I think we can do even better.”

23rd Karel Abraham 1:22.159: “I got a great start and the first two laps were really nice but then I started to lose touch with the group. I was fighting with rear grip problems and also lacking acceleration out of the final corner. It was frustrating because I wanted to fight with Miller but he was pulling thirty metres on me on the straight and it was impossible to recover that gap. That was the best I could do today. On the final five laps I was on the limit. The good thing is that now we have a couple of weeks to rest and then it’s my home Grand Prix at Brno”.

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