And to think that his race seemed to be marked before the start, given the disappointing Superpole of the morning. However, Alvaro Bautista turned out to be the protagonist of a Saturday right throughout the deluge of Magny-Cours, which saw him finish in second position behind Michael van der Mark.
So there is satisfaction on his part for the result obtained in conditions that were anything but easy considering the 17th position on the grid.
"In the end it's an important second place - said the Spaniard - after Superpole I didn't have any confidence because I felt like I was on ice and the tire had no grip. Then in the race I started with the dry set-up and I hoped it would not rain, but instead after a few laps the water came."
You were the first to re-enter...
"I was the first rider to pit because the grip was really low and I thought: now I have a long race ahead of me in conditions that are not easy. At the restart I was afraid I would have to suffer, but instead I had confidence and lap by lap I was able to improve. I had to survive, and in the end came this second place, which is as good as a win for me."
How did you approach the race under water?
"I tried to push very carefully knowing that all it took was nothing to end up on the ground because of the particularly slippery asphalt. Certainly having changed the tire right away was important because with an extra lap I don't know how it would have gone. That deecision paid off for two reasons: the first is that with the dry tires I would have ended up on the ground easily, and the second is that the first one to come into the pits usually then finds himself in front."
What idea do you have of this track in terms of safety?
"Definitely there are several points to review since in some sections the walls are close to the track. In wet conditions, then, the track then becomes very dangerous and one of the critical points is where Toprak crashed yesterday. Then there's turn 5, where you come in very fast and we've seen several crashes due to front-end closing. In the end, every track has its critical points."
You made up 20 points to Toprak...
"I think it's not fair to recover points in this way, because I like to have all the riders on the track. Toprak made a big mistake yesterday in wanting to push on the first lap to make the track record right away. I understand that he has confidence with the BMW, he feels strong, but he didn't need that. He was very lucky, because as I said, it could have been worse."