SBK, Bautista: "It was a boxing match, Dall'Igna has ideas to counter BMW"

It was a crazy Saturday in Assen between rain, cold and wind. However, Alvaro Bautista managed to keep the Aruba flag flying high, taking the lowest step of the podium behind Toprak. The Spaniard was relishing second position, but the Turkish rider made his superiority count, finishing ahead of him.

The glass is certainly half full and the world champion can only be satisfied with what he did.

"It was a very special day," he said, "anything could have happened today, in fact it only took a little to end up on the ground. However, I am happy, because the conditions were really difficult and it only took a little to make a mistake. The first few laps felt like a boxing match, where I touched with several riders, especially at the rear, but nothing happened."

Alvaro then explains what a race it was.
"In the first part of the track you needed to be gentle with the bike without taking risks, more or less like you were doing a kind of walk through the mountains road with your bike. Then the track started to dry out and we pushed. The thing is, it wasn't easy, but all in all it was okay."

Sealing the end of the confrontation was the display of the red flag.
"Red flags can happen in a race. On some occasions they favored me, on others they did not, but the conditions were really tough. However, I gave my best as always, trying to change my mentality lap by lap."

Meanwhile, the BMW has grown and Toprak is scary.
"BMW and Toprak are very competitive, but in Ducati they are certainly not standing with their arms folded. Gigi always has ideas and of course there is always a need to improve to make progress. During the winter a lot of work was done on the weight and personally I am really excited."

Bautista apparently survived the day's many obstacles.
"Yesterday I said it would be a weekend of survival and in the end we managed to survive. In these cases experience is important, but you also need a little bit of luck so that all the pieces fit together. I am happy and we are thinking about Sunday."

Automatic Translation by DeepL