Alvaro Bautista and Michael Rinaldi respond well to Saturday’s difficulties by giving the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team two valuable results in Sunday’s Race-2.
After the fourth place in Superpole Race, the Spanish immediately stuck to Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) and Rea (Kawasaki). With four laps to go, Bautista attacked Rea to take second position, ending the Pirelli DOC UK Round with a 17-point lead in the World Superbike Championship standings.
An extremely convincing race for Michael Rinaldi. Starting from sixth position, the Italian rider was immediately incisive and his race pace allowed him to pass Redding (BMW) on lap 13 to conquer fourth position. With this result, Rinaldi moves to within five points of fourth place in the WorldSBK standings.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #19)
“Despite the crash in Race-1 I think it was a very positive weekend because we knew the difficulties we could encounter on this track. It was not an easy race today, especially because of the pain in my hand after the crash. But I gritted my teeth and managed to stay close to Toprak and Johnny, securing a second place. I look forward to being in Most, a circuit that I think may be more suitable for our characteristics”
Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #21)
“I am very happy with this weekend. Yesterday we missed a chance to get on the podium because of an inconvenience we had during the race. The pace, however, has always been very strong and that is what we need. Today we had a decent Superpole Race and in Race-2 I pushed hard. I could say that this was the toughest race of my career and for that reason, I am very satisfied with the final result. I want to thank the whole team for the work done these days.”
- WorldSSP
Nicolò Bulega got off to a great start and already took the lead on the first lap. The Aruba.it Racing WSSP team rider led the race until lap 16 but he couldn’t defend himself from the final attack of Aegerter (Yamaha) and Baldassarri (Yamaha) finishing however with an extremely positive podium.
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WSSP #11)
“I am very happy with how things went this weekend. We were always very competitive and this is a very important data, especially on a circuit where we had never raced before. I’m sorry for the mistake I made yesterday, that is why I am particularly happy to have given the team this nice podium.”
