Two-time World Superbike Champion Alvaro Bautista gave Sunday’s “positive” recap at Worldsub in the Netherlands despite being affected by cooler temperatures and high winds in Race 2 compared to Race 1 on Saturday.
Sunday began to get wet at Assen, and Aruba.it Racing Ducati Rider managed to finish third behind Toprak Razgatlioglu and Sam Lowes. In race two he seemed to be set to third again, but Nicolo Brega’s late retirement promoted him to second place.
“Overall it was a positive Sunday for us because we managed the situation and got to understand how the track conditions turned out,” Bautista said.
“We managed it very well and it was really good to finish third, especially after yesterday’s crash. It was important to finish the race today.
“In Race 2, conditions were a little different than (Saturday), which wasn’t easy as it was much cooler and much windy.
“Fortunately, I got off to a good start and took the lead, but suddenly, I was not feeling the same confidence I felt as dry (Saturday) and tried to survive, trying to make a mistake.
Bautista admitted that his second place in Race 2 was slightly artificial and benefited from Brega’s retirement when the Italians were leading, and said that some of the setup changes made before Race 2 “doesn’t work.”
“Realistically, Nicolo (Brega) had technical issues so I was third today, but he was faster than anyone else,” Bautista said.
“Then Locatelli did an amazing job and did a great race. His pace was really good. For me, I wasn’t confident in my bike so I didn’t feel like I could push today.
“It is also true that I have tried a few small changes in the setup and a few small changes to try to make it colder and more windy in this state, but it didn’t work.
“So I’m happy (conditions) because I can at least finish both races at the end. I want to keep up this trend for the next race and not miss more of Saturday’s race.”