Bautista “not very happy” with qualifying but confident in race pace

Alvaro Bautista is looking forward to tomorrow’s Dutch TT despite starting from further back on the grid than he would have hoped after an impressive showing during free practice. Unfortunately at the moment of truth in qualifying he didn’t have the confidence to push any harder but his pace on used rubber is promising with the race in mind.

Alvaro Bautista (8th 1’35”508) “I am not very happy with qualifying today, because in free practice we managed to improve the setting compared to yesterday, but for some reason this afternoon I wasn’t as confident with it. Luckily I feel ready for the race, because when we rode with used tyres in FP4 we had a good pace and if we can get a good start tomorrow I am convinced we can make up a lot of ground. It would have been better to be higher up the grid, but in the end we have to be confident in our race pace.”

Fausto Gresini “The grid position is not what we hoped for, but the consolation is that we have good race pace that bodes well for tomorrow. Unfortunately Alvaro couldn’t get confident enough with the bike to set a good lap time in qualifying,, so he will have to settle for a third row start. He has a good pace and if he gets a good start I think he can have a decent race.”

Source: Gresini Racing
Photo Copyright: Simona Vogel for Vroom Media