Alvaro Bautista (Pull&Bear Aspar Team) was on a charge at the Catalan GP, battling it out with Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) and Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in spectacular style before running out of rear grip and concentrating on another solid finish. The Spaniard achieved that in a solid P7, setting him up with some good momentum ahead of the next back-to-back races at Assen and Sachsenring.
Alvaro Bautista, P7: "The race was very tough because of the heat and track, it’s always difficult to race here. I had a good start and I tried to manage the tyre consumption, especially on the first laps I tried to not push a lot, so some riders passed me but I tried to stay with them so I could pass and save some tyres for the end. Lap by lap I started to feel the tyres dropping off and especially the last five laps it was difficult to stay on the bike. I saw that two riders were in front of me; I was very close but on the last lap I lost the front and had to go wide in the chicane. I lost a lot of time so I couldn’t fight with them. It was difficult because they had a little more traction than me, but we finished the race which is important, and we got 7th position so I’m happy for that. We’ll see about Assen because it’s totally different from here, it’s cooler and the track is very demanding for the direction change, so we will see. I think we are on the right path now and we have to keep working like this: working really well during the weekend, doing better in Qualifying, so our target is to stay on the same level as we are here and the last races."