When Superbike World Championship leader Alvaro Bautista fell in the second free practice session at Magny-Cours at the entrance to the corner and fell again on his injured right hand, the Aruba Ducati team caught its breath.
When he crashed at Donington Park on July 16, Alvaro Bautista fell on his gas hand and sustained severe bruises and strained ligaments. He didn’t break anything at the time, but his hand handicapped him for weeks.
When the Spaniard’s front wheel slipped on corner entry in wet FP2 and he fell again on his right hand, the Aruba team members held their breath for a moment.
“The hand is perfect, no problem,” Bautista gave the all-clear when he answered questions from a small group of journalists on Friday afternoon. «I fell on the same side, but no problem. I was lucky that I didn’t hurt myself again.”
“Because I didn’t have any grip at the exit of the corner, we changed the set-up a bit,” said the world championship leader about the history of his crash. “That was better right away, I came out of the corner much faster, but braked in the same place before the next one. The speed was higher – and instead of driving straight ahead, I tried to turn in. My mistake.”
Bautista was fourth in FP1, which was only dry for the first few minutes. In wet FP2 he finished fourth again but lost almost a second on the fastest Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki).
Bautista is ahead of Magny-Cours by 31 points over second Rea and 38 over third Razgatlioglu – both downright specialists at the Circuit de Nevers. “I have hardly any experience with the Ducati here in the dry,” said the 23-time race winner. “2019 was my first dry session, race 1. It was also dry in the Superpole race, in the second main race I was cleared by Toprak on the second lap. On paper, it looks to me like I’ll have to ride on defense. But I was also able to attack a bit in Donington and Most, so who knows. But it is certain that is a difficult track for me.»
| World Superbike Championship result: Magny-Cours, FP2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | time | Diff |
| 1. | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki | 1:49,379 min | |
| 2. | Axel Bassani | Ducati | 1:50,407 | + 1,028 sec |
| 3. | Alex Lowes | Kawasaki | 1:51,018 | + 1,639 |
| 4. | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 1:51,118 | + 1,739 |
| 5. | Michael Rinaldi | Ducati | 1:51,393 | + 2,014 |
| 6. | Garrett Gerloff | Yamaha | 1:51,755 | + 2,376 |
| 7. | Scott Redding | BMW | 1:52,206 | + 2,827 |
| 8. | About Nozane | Yamaha | 1:52,423 | + 3,044 |
| 9. | Michael van der Mark | BMW | 1:52,487 | + 3,108 |
| 10. | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Yamaha | 1:52,538 | + 3,159 |
| 11. | Andrea Locatelli | Yamaha | 1:52,552 | + 3,173 |
| 12. | Lucas Mahias | Kawasaki | 1:52,587 | + 3,208 |
| 13. | Iker Lecuona | Honda | 1:52,789 | + 3,410 |
| 14. | Loris Baz | BMW | 1:52,893 | + 3,514 |
| 15. | Leandro Mercado | Honda | 1:53,070 | + 3,691 |
| 16. | xavi virgin | Honda | 1:53,100 | + 3,721 |
| 17. | Hafizh Syahrin | Honda | 1:53,152 | + 3,773 |
| 18. | Philipp Oettl | Ducati | 1:53,525 | + 4,146 |
| 19. | Oscar Gutierrez | Kawasaki | 1:53,761 | + 4,382 |
| 20. | Christophe Ponsson | Yamaha | 1:54,841 | + 5,462 |
| 21. | Eugene Laverty | BMW | 1:55,025 | + 5,646 |
| 22. | Roberto Tamburini | Yamaha | 1:55,404 | + 6,025 |
| 23. | Oliver King | Kawasaki | 1:55,865 | + 6,486 |
| 24. | Luca Bernardi | Ducati | 1:58,731 | + 9,352 |
| World Superbike Championship result: Magny-Cours, FP1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | time | Diff |
| 1. | Alex Lowes | Kawasaki | 1:39,107 min | |
| 2. | Michael Rinaldi | Ducati | 1:39,377 | + 0,270 sec |
| 3. | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Yamaha | 1:39,433 | + 0,326 |
| 4. | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 1:40,106 | + 0,999 |
| 5. | Andrea Locatelli | Yamaha | 1:40,425 | + 1,318 |
| 6. | Axel Bassani | Ducati | 1:40,745 | + 1,638 |
| 7. | Philipp Oettl | Ducati | 1:41,220 | + 2,113 |
| 8. | xavi virgin | Honda | 1:41,254 | + 2,147 |
| 9. | Scott Redding | BMW | 1:41,432 | + 2,325 |
| 10. | Luca Bernardi | Ducati | 1:42,056 | + 2,949 |
| 11. | Iker Lecuona | Honda | 1:42,605 | + 3,498 |
| 12. | About Nozane | Yamaha | 1:42,930 | + 3,823 |
| 13. | Michael van der Mark | BMW | 1:43,305 | + 4,198 |
| 14. | Oscar Gutierrez | Kawasaki | 1:44,107 | + 5,000 |
| 15. | Leandro Mercado | Honda | 1:44,687 | + 5,580 |
| 16. | Oliver King | Kawasaki | 1:45,761 | + 6,654 |
| 17. | Christophe Ponsson | Yamaha | 1:47,216 | + 8,109 |
| 18. | Roberto Tamburini | Yamaha | 1:48,658 | + 9,551 |
| 19. | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki | 1:50,854 | + 11,747 |
| 20. | Lucas Mahias | Kawasaki | 1:55,974 | + 16,867 |
| 21. | Hafizh Syahrin | Honda | 1:56,204 | + 17,097 |
| 22. | Eugene Laverty | BMW | ||
| 23. | Loris Baz | BMW | ||
| 24. | Garrett Gerloff | Yamaha | ||