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The Magny-Cours weekend is turning out to be much more complicated than expected for Alvaro Bautista, as HRC’s Spanish rider has not been particularly happy with the chaotic French weather from the first free practice session. Various vicissitudes have seen the 35-year-old trudge around making up the back positions of the field. After a Friday in which he finished in 18th place, in qualifying he did not go any better than 17th position. In this afternoon's wet race things did not go well, on the contrary, Bautista took home a paltry 12th position, almost fifty seconds behind the winner Jonathan Rea.
"I think we are suffering from the same problem we had in MotoGP in cold and wet conditions - declared Bautista - since yesterday I have not had good sensations with the rear tyre. Today we continued to work, also on the electronics, in an attempt to solve this problem. In FP3 I tried several different set-ups, but I never felt at ease. For the race we went back to the technical compromises of yesterday ".
What caught everyone's eye was the big gap between the Spaniard and teammate Leon Haslam. Although he did not shine in qualifying (11th) either, the Brit tried to sort out the problems of adapting the brand-new Fireblade. Unfortunately for him, he crashed on the last lap while fighting for fifth position.
"I can't explain this massive difference with Leon - he continued - evidently the rider's weight has a greater influence at Magny-Cours with this climate. As I said on Friday, we are experiencing new conditions for us, lots of cold and rain. I was able to improve my lap time, but I'm really a long way from the top positions ".
The climatic conditions found during the weekend are totally different from those encountered at Barcelona two weeks ago, where the World Superbike riders were able to test in the wet during FP2 and FP3.
"In Barcelona it was warmer in the rain and I was fine, the temperatures are low here. We have ridden in unusual and difficult conditions. In the dry we did not encounter this type of problem, but when the asphalt has little grip. we are immediately in difficulty ".
On the rider market front, on the other hand, rumours are intensifying about Alvaro Bautista's possible teammate in view of next season.
"Haslam has a lot of experience, he is working really well in developing the CBR 1000RR-R SP and we are discussing it a lot all the time. As far as I'm concerned, I don't know anything about his future," he concluded.
