Alvaro Bautista just misses out on the points in chaotic Argentine GP
Argentina was the stage for another unforgettable MotoGP race, full of incident and virtually impossible to sum up: from the start, when the majority of riders headed back from the grid to pit lane to switch from wet to dry tyres, to the end when Marc Márquez collided with Valentino Rossi in a moment of drama that saw the Italian crash out and the Spaniard sanctioned with a penalty that left him out of the points.
Jack Miller was the only rider to stay on the grid on slick tyres and he made his early advantage count with a strong race at the front, only missing out on the podium after a mistake in the latter stages. Victory for Cal Crutchlow, ahead of Johann Zarco and Álex Rins, means he heads to the next round in Texas as the championship leader.
The Ángel Nieto Team were unable to salvage points from the chaos in Argentina, with Álvaro Bautista coming back from some early grip problems to come through in the second half of the race with lap times similar to the front group, although by then he was too far back.
16th Álvaro Bautista:
“It was a race of two halves. In the first part the track still had some damp sections and I was struggling to get the tyres up to temperature so I lost some time. Halfway through the race I was passed by Jorge Lorenzo and decided to push to follow him, taking some risks even though I couldn’t feel the tyres. This suddenly gave them a bit more heat and I felt better. Three or four degrees make a big difference to the grip and from that point I was able to set a good pace.”