Race-1 of the Pirelli Indonesian Round ended with second place for Bautista, who defended his championship lead (+77) well over Razgatlioglu (Yamaha), who appeared uncatchable on Saturday in Indonesia.
After a difficult Superpole, the Spanish rider got off to a good start and he stuck to the podium group. After catching Locatelli on lap 3, Bautista chased down Rea, overtaking him halfway through the race. Razgatlioglu, however, was too far and Alvaro managed his race impeccably to finish in second place.
The start of Michael Rinaldi (third row, P9) was not incisive. From the sixth lap, however, his race pace visibly increased and allowed him to pass first Lowes then Vierge and Bassani. Rinaldi attacked Locatelli to take fourth place, but in the last three laps, the sudden drop of the rear tyre did not allow him to defend himself against the Yamaha rider’s response.
P2 – Alvaro Bautista
“I knew it was going to be a difficult race because of the weather and the track conditions, although I have to admit that the track has improved since yesterday. The first goal was not to make mistakes; thus, a second place was the best we could have achieved today, also considering that I can’t get the best feeling with the front tyre. In all the previous rounds I have always used a tyre that Pirelli didn’t make available here, so I had to be very careful. It’s still an extremely positive result”.
P5 – Michael Rinaldi
“It was a positive race, especially in light of the difficult qualifying session. I struggled to get into a rhythm over the first few laps and then my feeling with the bike grew lap by lap. I was able to make some good overtaking moves, including one on Locatelli for fourth place. I honestly thought I had what it took to finish the race in fourth place but in the last three laps, I suddenly lost grip and almost crashed. I’m satisfied but at the same time we have to improve to stay with the front group”.
- WorldSSP
After a good start, Nicolò Bulega could not find the conditions to fight for the podium and finished in sixth place.
P6 – Nicolò Bulega
“We have definitely made some steps forward compared to the weekend in Argentina where things didn’t go well. Clearly, we are still missing something. In the first few laps, the feeling wasn’t bad then I had a lot of difficulties, especially on the front end. We will work today to find a solution for tomorrow’s race”.
