Bautista starts seventh at home

2017-05-05 14:06
The MotoGP World Championship returns to Europe after the first three races of the season this weekend, with a new name on top at Jerez. Dani Pedrosa was the fastest man of the day by far, more than half a second ahead of Jack Miller and Cal Crutchlow on a day that started with rain but ended with radiant sunshine on the Andalusian circuit. Jorge Lorenzo is the top Ducati in fourth place, a tenth faster than Danilo Petrucci and with Maverick Viñales sixth. Series leader Valentino Rossi started the Spanish Grand Prix in 12th place, 1.2 seconds behind.

Álvaro Bautista opened his home round in seventh position, with a best time (1:40.392) set on the second-to-last of his 21 laps during second free practice, the only sunny session of the day. The Pull&Bear Aspar rider was the last man to lap within a second of the leader, although he recognises that he did not feel total confidence on the bike because there were still wet patches on the track. Bautista ended the first day feeling positive and intent on continuing to improve at Jerez. Meanwhile Karel Abraham struggled today with the ankle and knee injuries he sustained in Austin a couple of weeks ago. The Czech rider was also unable to go on track in the first session due to the weather conditions, while in the second free a problem with the bike forced him to stop for several minutes. Despite this, Abraham hopes to continue improving tomorrow on a track in which he completed a good preseason test in November.



7th Álvaro Bautista 1:40.392 (35 laps): "It's been a weird day. In wet conditions I have not felt very comfortable, I was missing a bit of contact with the rear wheel and I have not been able to enjoy everything I would have liked. In the afternoon with the dry track there were still some damp sectors. In the end I felt very good with the bike, happy with the feeling, although it was a little difficult to test the tyres, especially the front, because I did not have much confidence in the wet patches. We always rode with the soft, maybe it was too soft in the end. The bike became a bit unstable and I had trouble getting into the corners. In short, we finished the first day with positive feelings, but looking forward to continue improving tomorrow. "

21st Karel Abraham 1:41.909 (14 laps): "I felt a lot better before coming to Jerez but I am in a surprising amount of pain on the bike, with my knee and also my ankle. It has been a frustrating day because we had a lot of things to try but we lost a session this morning due to the weather. It wasn't worth taking a risk in my condition. In the afternoon I went out and set a fast flying lap but then immediately we had a problem with the bike and I had to stop halfway around the track and come back on the scooter. That cost me fifteen minutes. Then we had a problem with the second bike and I had to come in again. I think from the whole day we had just one decent exit, which is not what we needed, so tomorrow will be hard for us, we will have to work really hard and really quickly but I believe we will be able to do it and make up the gap.”

Source: AsparTeam

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