Alvaro Bautista improves pace in Portimao WorldSBK Race 2 but “they were faster than yesterday”

After not finishing the first lap of WorldSBK Race 1 at Portimao, Alvaro Bautist was able to start on the front in Race 2 following a strong ride from ninth to third in the Superpole Race, but he ultimately couldn’t match the pace of the leading pair.

The ride to third in the Superpole Race came despite missing laps on compared to his rivals after the aforementioned Race 1 retirement, and so it took some time for Bautista to find his rhythm while trying to fight through the front half of the World Superbike field.

“I think it has been a very positive Sunday, especially because in the Superpole Race we were able to recover a lot of positions for Race 2,” Bautista said, speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 2 in Portimao.

“In the first laps of the Superpole Race I missed the laps from yesterday because I need to get used to the race pace. But, after that, I can keep my pace, my confidence.

“It was really nice to finish on the podium and have a good position for Race 2.”

From third on the grid, Bautista had a chance to prove his race pace against Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega in Race 2, but ultimately he showed to be lacking some longevity compared to the leading duo.

“In the afternoon I did a good start, I stayed with Nico [Nicolo Bulega] and Toprak [Razgatlioglu], but after a few laps I started to drop a little bit – they were faster than yesterday, so the pace I could keep was the same as they did yesterday, but they increased the pace,” he explained.

“So I just tried to stay there and not lose too much but then the race was stopped and when it restarted I had a better feeling, because maybe there was less fuel [so] less weight on the bike and I felt easier – like all the riders, but maybe I felt more difference because of my height.

“I was able to make a good lap time, but they went even faster, so we were in the same situation.”

Summarily, though, Bautista’s conclusions were positive after Sunday in Portimao, especially having tried something different with the front tyre.

“Overall I think we have to be happy,” he said.

“Also, we used the hard compound on the front and basically we were discovering because in the morning when the track had grip it was working really well but in the afternoon I missed some grip, especially mid-corner and also missed some confidence.

“We found some positives on this tyre, but we discovered also some negatives, so now we have to analyse the data and try to improve for the future, and try to gain those small things that maybe allow me to have more confidence and to push for the couple of tenths that I missed [in Race 2] to be with [Bulega and Razgatlioglu].”

Bautista pinpointed corner entry as the area he most needs to improve in – somewhere he felt strong in the past, but which has become more difficult since the minimum rider weight rules were introduced last year.

“Fortunately, now I feel much better than last year, so I have more confidence on the bike, I can ride the bike much better, especially when the conditions are good I’m able to push to the limit,” he said.

“So, it’s just a matter of having more confidence especially in braking and going into the corner – it’s the place that I had a lot of confidence in the past but now the bike is a bit heavier so the bike is not stopping the same and is not turning the same as before.

“So, it’s just a matter of time until we find this.

“We did a really important step from last year, not only in confidence but also in performance and it’s like we’re less close to the limit, so we have more space to push harder.”