Alvaro Bautista explains Estoril WorldSBK Race 1 crash: “It’s one of my characteristics”

A crash for Alvaro Bautista in WorldSBK Race 1 at Estoril cost him a shot at the podium, despite starting from 11th on the grid.

Bautista had passed his way up into second place by lap seven, but was being caught by his factory Ducati teammate, Nicolo Bulega, when he slid out at turn nine.

Explaining the crash to WorldSBK.com following Race 1, Bautista said that he had a bad feeling from the beginning of the race with the front of the bike, as a mistake had been made with the setup due to the lack of dry practice.

“For sure, today was not the best, with the conditions,” he said. “We tried some modifications from yesterday on the bike. On the wet, was not too bad — I had a crash in the Superpole and for that I had a bad grid position, but I think we made [the bike] stronger, a bit faster.

“In any case, I did a good start in the race and I was in the front group, but from the beginning I felt the front was not really okay; I didn’t feel so comfortable, especially on the hard braking because it was like I arrived to the bottom [of the fork].

“We checked the data, and in fact we were too soft, because we didn’t have time in dry conditions and we did a small mistake in the setup.

“So, especially after a few laps, when I was alone, and I start to brake a bit harder, I arrive very in the limit in the corners, I went long [wide] in some places.

“Unfortunately, I crashed in the chicane. So, a bit of a pity because, sometimes, when you feel the bike is not 100 per cent, maybe you have to manage and take the maximum [that’s available].

“It’s one of my characteristics — sometimes is good, sometimes is bad, but it’s like this.

“I try to always push, and sometimes you have to manage. In any case, I’m happy because I did my best. For sure, now we have more data for tomorrow’s setup, and I hope to improve the feeling on the bike.”

Bautista’s Superpole crash leaves him on the fourth row of the grid for the Superpole Race, but the still-reigning champion is confident that simple fixes on the bike will allow him to fight for the top positions.

“We have to see how is the weather,” he began. “Seems like it will be dry, so we have a chance in the morning, in the Warm Up, to make some changes in the bike that I think will be easy to improve because it’s very clear where the problem was today.

“This problem I had already, in the past, and we know what to do in the bike [to fix it], so I’m quite calm about that.

“If I can do a good start like I did today, it will be not a problem the Superpole Race.

“For sure, everyone will push really hard, and will be more difficult, but, for me, if we can find the good feeling with the bike, I’m not worried about nothing.”

Bautista’s Race 1 crash ruled him out of the championship. Coming into this weekend, he needed to outscore Toprak Razgatlioglu by at least 20 points over the course of the three races in order to remain in contention at next weekend’s final round in Jerez.

But, with Razgatlioglu winning and Bautista not scoring, the most the Spanish rider can now outscore Razgatlioglu by is 12 points — if Bautista wins both Sunday races and Razgatlioglu scores points in neither.

Despite the implications, Bautista said he was not thinking about the championship when he crashed, but instead was asking himself why he crashed.

“Sincerely, in that moment, I didn’t think about the points or the championship,” he said.

“I just thought about the crash and thought about: if I felt not so good on the bike, why?

“Maybe in that moment I thought ‘Alvaro, you’re stupid, you have the limit, don’t [go over] the limit, please.’

“But, this warning I made in all my career, many times. But, it seems like I never learn about that. Well, or it’s my character, so I always try to do my maximum.

“But, sometimes you have to keep a bit out of the limit. But, it was my thought, I thought ‘Why did you push? Why?’”