Alvaro Bautista crashes out at Brno
The Pull&Bear Aspar Team paid its own homage to the late, great Ángel Nieto today with Karel Abraham taking the 12+1 position in his home Grand Prix. The Czech rider ran as high as fourth in a race that saw the riders start on wet tyres before switching to slicks after just a few laps.
Álvaro Bautista suffered difficulties from the start when he encountered a clutch issue that caused him to drop positions, before a brake problem and then a crash.
The Spaniard had qualified in ninth position but was unable to round the weekend off positively and he leaves Brno with his mind already focused on the next round in Austria.
Victory today went to Marc Márquez, who timed his bike change better than anybody to extend his overall series lead. Dani Pedrosa and Maverick Viñales joined him on an all-Spanish podium, the trio making a joint gesture to the sky in a touching tribute to Ángel Nieto.
Álvaro Bautista (DNF):
“Everything went badly today. We had a problem with the clutch at the start and I lost a load of positions, then I started to feel good on the wet tyres and the track dried so we had to switch bikes. I don’t know why but the brakes were sticking, it was a very strange feeling. I was close to coming in to the pits but I thought maybe it was a case of them overheating. In the end I went into one turn and lost the front. Now we have to look ahead to the next race, which thankfully is next week. It was difficult to ride with these problems today and even without the crash we probably wouldn’t have scored points.”