Bautista starts British GP in fine form

2018-08-24 12:57
Ángel Nieto Team rider places tenth on opening day at Silverstone, with a provisional spot in Q2



The MotoGP World Championship action in Great Britain got underway with up to four Ducati riders amongst the Top 10. With track temperatures of around 24ºC, Andrea Dovizioso was the fastest rider of the day, clocking a 2:01.390 lap of the Silverstone circuit. Home rider Cal Crutchlow was second, just 5 thousandths of a second off Dovizioso. The leader of the World Championship, Marc Márquez, closed the first day in fourth position, just behind Maverick Viñales.

Angel Nieto Team rider Álvaro Bautista, who yesterday announced that he will compete as a factory Ducati rider in World Superbikes in 2019, started the British GP well. The Spaniard is provisionally through to Q2, lying tenth on the timesheets. He was a second down on Dovizioso, and struggled with bumps on the track that destabilised his Ducati. Karel Abraham finished this first day at Silverstone in twenty-second position, after improving by more than a second between the first and the second session. The Czech rider worked together with his team to improve the front end grip for his Ducati. Abraham could have cut 7 tenths off his best time had his top sector times been combined, but he was impeded by a rider in front of him.



10th Álvaro Bautista 2:02.448 (26 laps): "Our goal is always to be in Q2, and we will be there with our position now if it were to rain tomorrow. Today we have been able to compare the performances of each type of tyre and there isn't much of a difference. The only bad thing about this weekend is the circuit, which I'm not comfortable with at all. It seems that there are no bumps, because at first glance you don't see them but then the bike moves a lot and is very unstable. I don't have a good feeling but I think we are all in the same position. We will have to try to improve the movements on the bike and get more confidence because on many parts of the circuit I can't force the bike -it's as if it's floating. I think it will be tough, because we basically haven't changed anything since the last race, so it must be the circuit that's the problem."

22nd Karel Abraham 2:04.223 (27 laps): "I think the team did a great job, because we had a problem this morning but we managed to reduce its effects for the afternoon. With us not having winglets, we have wheelie problems and the bike can't work with maximum power; I can't steer it and we don't have all the grip we need -especially coming out of fast corners. In the second session of the day we had a better race pace, but with new tyres I only managed to get three hot laps in. That was ruined by the rider in front of me. My ideal lap is up to seven tenths quicker than my final lap. The attitude of this rider was neither safe nor responsible, and it happened to me twice, but we will continue working tomorrow."

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