Bautista: “It seemed like I was riding on ice”

Tough day at the office for the Aspar rider

Alvaro Bautista (Pull&Bear Aspar Team) headed the march from Q1 on the Rimini Riviera, and qualified tenth under sunny skies. But the former 125 World Champion suffered with grip issues on Sunday, finding himself fighting to stay on the bike and get to the end of the race. But the Spaniard kept his head down and managed to finish, taking more points to add to his total despite the difficult conditions.

Alvaro Bautista, P12: "Today I could not do anything more than finish. In the morning I had problems with grip. We tried out solutions for the race to see if it would improve, but it was still the same. It seemed like I was riding on ice, there was no grip at all and when I came into a corner I didn't know if I'd get out of it. I couldn't feel the tyres. I had to just try to finish, which is what I did."