Alvaro Bautista makes good comeback after Sachsenring start chaos

After the Assen TT, also the German Grand Prix held today at the Sachsenring circuit has been influenced by the changing track conditions and by the ‘flag-to-flag’ regulation: with the track already drying out before the start of the race, 14 of the 23 riders on the grid entered the pit lane already at the end of the warm-up lap to move from their bike to the one set for dry conditions.

The Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini riders started the race from the pits: an unusual start at the end of which Alvaro Bautista found himself in 22nd place.

The Spaniard however made a good comeback, claiming the ninth position overtaking Cal Crutchlow’s Ducati on the last lap.

Thanks to the result obtained in Germany, Bautista is now tenth in the overall standings with 50 points.

ALVARO BAUTISTA (9th)
“The start from the pit lane affected our whole race: we went to the grid with the bike for wet conditions and during the warm-up lap I preferred to stay behind the other riders to see what they decided to do, because in some places the track was still very wet. When I saw almost all the riders enter the pits to change the bike I did the same, but then when we lined up at the exit of the pit lane there was no space to stay ahead and are therefore I had a poor start. However, I started to overtake some riders, although it’s not easy on this track, and then I managed to keep a good pace. Let’s say that I enjoyed to overtake many riders, even if I’d preferred to do it for a better position… Too bad for the start, which as mentioned before penalized us a lot. I also think that many riders starting the race from the pit lane was a potentially dangerous situation, although luckily in the end nothing happened. Now we have a couple of weeks to rest, and then we will resume fighting: we hope to be more consistent in the second half of the season”.

Source: Gresini Racing