After Superbike World Champion Alvaro Bautista experienced a disappointing Saturday at the WSBK in Magny-Cours (France), the next setback followed on Sunday morning in the sprint race. While fighting for victory, Bautista miscalculated and collided with Ducati team-mate Michael Rinaldi, who fell. The race management did not impose a penalty.
The Yamaha warehouse reacted irritably to the verdict and called for an investigation. “We have filed an appeal,” confirms Yamaha team manager Paul Denning at WorldSBK.com. “If there is no penalty for an incident where you feel it’s not right, then you can appeal. That’s what we did.”
“They checked it carefully after the race. Together with the stewards, they came to the conclusion that Alvaro could no longer do anything,” explains Paul Denning.
Yamaha disagreed with the stewards’ decision
The person responsible for Yamaha cannot really understand this decision. “The rules state that the driver must drive responsibly and not pose a danger to his opponents,” notes Paul Denning. “Alvaro was too fast and braked too late. He admitted that in parc ferme.”
According to Paul Denning, the rules are not applied consistently enough: “When drivers are penalized for mistakes that cause an opponent to fall, then you expect the same rules to be followed. But that wasn’t the case.”
“It was a pretty hard impact with Michael. That could have led to an injury. But of course it’s difficult because these are subjective decisions. We were surprised by the final decision and also a bit disappointed,” admits the Yamaha team manager.
How Alvaro Bautista explains the collision
Alvaro Bautista seemed very humbled after the incident in the sprint race. The World Championship leader was lucky that he only lost three points to challenger Toprak Razgatlioglu, who won the sprint.
But how did the collision happen? “Because of the slipstream, I couldn’t brake the motorcycle properly. I wanted to avoid the collision, but Toprak drove to the inside and Michael had to right his motorcycle. That’s why he was on my line,” defends Bautista.
“I feel sorry for Michael because he was really strong and could have fought for victory in the Superpole race and also in the second race,” said the Spaniard. In the championship, Bautista leads Magny-Cours by 57 points and is therefore fully on course to defend his title.
Without the puncture in Most, Toprak Razgatlioglu would be close
At the WSBK weekend in France, Bautista lost 17 points of his lead. On Saturday alone he lost 19 points in one fell swoop when the electronics in his Ducati failed and Bautista had to start a race to catch up, which ended in P10.
“Anything can happen in racing. The important thing is that I was able to finish the race on Saturday and collect a few points,” commented Bautista. The Ducati works driver continues to ignore the championship.
“I really enjoy riding. I form a very good pair with my motorcycle. That’s important to me. I don’t look at the championship standings or whether Toprak is putting pressure on me or not. I’m not worried about the championship “Every weekend is different. I always want to give my best,” said the world champion.
Yamaha is mourning the points it lost in the second race in Most when Razgatlioglu, while in the lead, retired due to a puncture. With Razgatlioglu’s victory on Saturday, Yamaha would have been in Most without the zero.
“Of course, after a race like that, in which you were able to win and Alvaro only finished tenth, you think about what it would look like if that hadn’t happened and the gap was 25 points instead of 55,” said Paul Denning.
But 57 points is a lot with three weekends remaining, especially because Aragon is a track where Bautista is the overwhelming favorite. “The gap to Alvaro is still big, especially when you consider that Aragon and Portimao follow. But Toprak got the most out of it this weekend,” comments Paul Denning.