Seventh place at Assen for Alvaro Bautista in tricky conditions

Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini leaves the Netherlands with a good performance by Alvaro Bautista, seventh, in a race marked by changing and tricky conditions of the tarmac.

The rain fell when the riders were already lined up on the grid delayed the start of the Grand Prix, finally started in wet conditions. Soon, however, the asphalt dried out, forcing riders to change bikes as per ‘flag to flag’ regulation.

Starting from the tenth position, Bautista found himself at ease with rain tyres, passing some riders in the early laps before changing the bike for dry conditions.

The Spaniard rejoined the track in fifth position, but then struggled to get the tyres into the right temperature, crossing the finish line in seventh, defending himself from Bradley Smiths’ last gasp attack.

ALVARO BAUTISTA (7th)
“Today we faced very tricky conditions, we went to the starting grid with the bike set for dry conditions, but it started to rain so we had a new starting procedure in order to change the bike for the wet, but then when we went back to the starting grid, the track was already drying out in some areas. In the early laps I felt comfortable in the wet and I was able to overtook some riders in front of me, but after only four laps we had to change the bike because the track at that point was already almost dry. With the other bike i hadn’t the same feeling, I struggled a lot to get the tyres in the right temperature. In the end the seventh place is not too bad, even if we have been very close to the top five. However, after the retirement in Barcelona we needed to end the race and take some points”.

Source: Gresini Racing