Alvaro Bautista pace “quite good” at Hungarian WorldSBK but not enough “to fight for victory”

Despite finishing more than one second off the pace of the top times on Friday at the Hungarian WorldSBK, Alvaro Bautista has made a positive assessment of his first day at the Balaton Park circuit on a race-spec Ducati.

Ducati, in general, was strong on Friday at Balaton, but it was Sam Lowes who was fastest of all on the Marc VDS bike.

Bautista himself ended up sixth-fastest in FP2, but the Spaniard said that he had been quick to find a good feeling in Hungary.

“I think it has been a positive first day here in a new track for everybody,” Alvaro Bautista told WorldSBK.com.

“In the morning, straight away I felt so comfortable.

“We worked also in the afternoon to find a fine tuning with the gearbox, with some changes in the setup, and in the afternoon the track was more difficult because it seems like the grip is a bit lower.

“But, in any case, we were able to make some adjustments and they helped me to be more consistent on the pace.

“At the end, I’m happy because I used always the same set of tyres, so we were working on the race pace. I’m quite happy because the feeling was not too bad.”

Bautista added that he was able to make his best lap of FP2 with 21 laps on his rear tyre.

“For me, the important thing is that in the afternoon I did my best lap with 21 laps on the tyre,” he said.

“That means our pace was quite good”

Despite the good feeling, Bautista doesn’t see himself with the pace to win at Balaton.

“For sure, we don’t have the pace, right now, to fight for the victory – but in the races it’s totally different from the practice,” he said.

“For me, the important thing is [that] the feeling I have with the bike has been very similar to the last round – I can ride the bike more or less in my way.

“For tomorrow, let’s see how is the weather because it seems like maybe it could be rain, so we have to be prepared for all kinds of situations.

“At the moment, I can say that we are performing well.”

Balaton a “physical” track

Although the Balaton Park circuit is made up of mainly slow corners, its physicality comes from the changes of direction.

Difficulty is also added by the many hard braking points into small corners where two-time World Superbike Champion Bautista explains that it is difficult to be consistent.

“Well, for sure it’s not an easy track because you have a lot of change of directions and a lot of hard braking,” he said.

“Sincerely, I’m sure that I don’t know if for Ducati or for my riding style it’s good, but it’s physical and I think I feel strong, I feel in good shape – physically and mentally.

“To be consistent all the laps is very difficult because the references are very on the limit and if you try some more then you go long. It’s very easy to make a mistake here.

“If you see the pace of all the riders, everybody after three or four laps makes a lap much slower because they made a mistake. It’s very easy to make a mistake, so it will be very important to be very precise in the race.

“In the practice you can risk a bit more because if you make a mistake it doesn’t matter. But, in the race, you cannot make a mistake, so maybe you are more conservative in the races.

“The good thing is that I felt, in riding the track, to be inside the limits – I mean, to risk not [more] than necessary. So, that’s also very important for the race.”