Bulega second in Race 1 at Donington. Bautista involved in an incident at Turn 1.
Saturday at Donington ended with Nicolò Bulega in second place. Alvaro Bautista, on the other hand, was forced to retire after an accident at the first corner.
The Italian rider’s start, second on the grid, was not as incisive as usual, forcing him to drop to fifth place by the second corner. However, Bulega remained focused and between the third and fourth laps he recovered three positions to chase down Razgatlioglu (BMW), who had already built up a 2-second gap. The Turkish rider’s race pace then proved to be more effective.
Once again, Bautista was involved in an incident at the first corner, through no fault of his own. After contact between Montella (Ducati) and Lowes (Ducati), the British rider’s bike hit Bautista, who was unable to avoid the impact.
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #11)
‘It wasn’t the race I expected, although I have to admit that Toprak had something extra today, and it would have been difficult to fight him for the win. I also didn’t get off to a good start, I lost time catching up, and I had to deal with discomfort in my eyes. The fact remains that to be more competitive tomorrow, we will have to analyse the data carefully and take an important step forward.’
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #19)
“There’s not much to say: I’m definitely down on luck because, unfortunately, this isn’t the first time this season that I’ve been hit at the first corner. I hope that tomorrow in the Superpole Race I can at least make up some positions to start further up the grid in Race 2.”
