Bautista: ‘Maybe 60 will become 62’, unimpressed with conditions in Mandalika
The Ducati rider made a great start as he moved up from fifth to third by turn one, however, difficulties overtaking outside of the racing line saw the series leader make a mistake that allowed Jonathan Rea to come back at the Spaniard.
After failing to overtake Andrea Locatelli at the first attempt on lap three, Bautista eventually got the better of the Yamaha rider before doing the same to Rea a few laps later.
- Rea amazed by Toprak lap: ‘It’s like he doesn’t see the dirty part of the track’
- Mandalika WorldSBK Race (1) Results: Razgatlioglu wins in style
And although he was offered a rare chance to close in on Razgatlioglu and fight for the win when the race leader ran off track at turn eight, the pace that was set by Razgatlioglu after that was too much to handle.
When asked whether he felt he could challenge Razgatlioglu if he managed to get away with the Turkish star, Bautista said: "No! Sincerely, Toprak is in a good level and it’s true that I’m also missing some front feeling with the tyre.
"Pirelli didn’t bring the tyre that I normally use so yesterday I struggled and today as well. We are trying to make it work but this tyre for me is more difficult.
"It doesn’t allow me to be precise and I made one mistake. This is the worst track to make one mistake. Congrats to Toprak today. The maximum I could do today was second."
Soon-to-be WorldSBK champion Bautista unhappy with conditions in Mandalika
While the level of grip was clearly better than the opening day of practice, Bautista believes the racing line remains just as small, thus a costly mistake is very easy to make.
Citing 60 centimetres as the maximum width for how much grip was available after FP2, Bautista sarcastically said ‘maybe it’s 62’ now.
Speaking after Race 1, Bautista said: "We only have 60 centimetres of asphalt. I don’t think [it will improve]. Maybe instead of 60 centimetres it will be 62.
"The problem is that tomorrow it will be even worse because there will be even more rubber on the good area and the difference then is even bigger.
"This morning in Superpole I did turn five, six and seven and I just put the front [tyre] on the black line but the rear was just a bit outside and I was all the time sliding.
"It’s not easy to do a race with this condition. It’s clear that it’s for everybody but for me, this weekend is very tough. Patient, tried to get the maximum and that’s what I did."
