Staying out of trouble the key for Alvaro Bautista on “strange” Czech WorldSBK Friday

Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista says it was “important to not make mistakes and to be safe,” during a Friday at Autodrom Most that saw four red flags.

All four stoppages came in FP1, with Bautista’s factory Ducati teammate Nicolo Bulega causing one which left him with "pain more or less everywhere".

The Spanish rider, though, was able to stay out of trouble despite what he felt were unusual conditions.

“Today has been a strange Friday because this morning the track was a bit damp in the first few laps, so we stayed in the box for more time than normal,” Bautista told WorldSBK.com.

“Then we had four red flags in FP1, so in the end it was difficult to understand [anything]. The track was a bit dirty, stopping and starting [again] is not good for tyres, and especially in FP1 it was difficult to understand and get the reference of the track. So, in FP1, it was not easy to understand [anything].”

The tricky conditions continued at the beginning of FP2, although it was fully dry by the end and uninterrupted by red flags.

“We started in FP2, more or less in the same situation because the track had some damp patches, so [again] we had to wait more time in the box,” Bautista said.

“Then we started with a small change in the setup with the data from the morning, but straight away I realised it was not the way so I stopped in the pits and we went back to the setup of [FP1] and straight away I felt much better.

“Then we tried to improve at the end because I felt some problems, especially out of some corners where we have to push too much on the rear; then I felt like the front was not really stable and we needed to improve this, but we couldn’t do it in FP2.

“In any case, the feeling was good, the bike worked more or less like in the last rounds, so our base setup is quite good, so let’s see tomorrow if we have a better time at the track without any rain or a lot of red flags like today.”

Bautista added that he felt it was important to stay out of trouble on a day as unusual as Friday in Most.

“I have to say that today it was important to not make mistakes and to be safe, especially after seeing all the crashes in the morning,” he summarised.

Bautista was fifth in FP2, but both sessions were topped by reigning World Superbike Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu.

“It’s true that normally this track fits very well to Toprak [Ragzatlioglu],” said Bautista.

“I think his riding style is very good for this track, with all the changes of direction – he’s a big guy and he can move the bike more easily than me.”

Bautista added that he felt he has some “margin” after the opening day and can improve for Saturday.

“We have some ideas [to improve],” he said.

“Today my feeling with the bike was good, I just tried to ride easily, don’t make mistakes, don’t [do anything] stupid, and just try to keep building up a good confidence like we are doing during all the last rounds.

“Tomorrow we have to keep this tendency.

“Toprak today showed very good pace, but one thing is practice, another thing is racing, so let’s see.

“I think we have some margin now, from today, I don’t know if it will be enough to stay close to him or not but we will see.”