MotoGP: Bautista fall denies Aprilia best ever result

Alvaro Bautista was unlucky to not walk away form Sunday’s Dutch TT at Assen with Aprilia’s best ever result on the resurgent RS-GP machine, after the Spaniard fell from the battle for fifth in the closing stages of the rain-swept race.

Admitting afterwards that he made a mistake, he was quick to hold his hands up and put the crash down to a racers’ mentality.

“In the first part of the race I was riding well, despite the difficulties. At the restart I stayed calm, trying to figure out the track conditions lap after lap and setting my pace. I felt good, even when Iannone overtook me, opening up a little gap, I managed to close it back down. In the last lap I was very close to Andrea.

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“His line went slightly wide on a turn and I moved in to overtake him. Unfortunately I fell, but in those situations the rider’s instinct is always to aim for the best possible result. I’m sorry, first of all for the guys on my team and for Aprilia. Now the only thing to do is to look forward and keep on growing.”

However, the day wasn’t a complete disaster for the Noale manufacturer, as Stefan Bradl rallied to a strong eighth on the second of the bikes.

“It was definitely a race that will spark a lot of discussion. Race Direction took the right decision. The track was really getting dangerous. I was riding with confidence and I felt good in the saddle even if it was definitely not easy to go fast. Unfortunately, once I was back in the garage, we had a small electronics problem so I had to restart with the second bike.

“The geometry was slightly different and the feeling was not perfect, so I managed the race, in any case bringing home an important result. This is a good calling card for my home race at the Sachsenring.”

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