Alvaro Bautista was unhappy with his qualifying position in Germany despite getting into the top ten for just the third time this year.
The Rizla Suzuki rider's disappointment was born out of his strong pace in morning practice, which he ended in seventh position. Despite his best efforts, Bautista was unable to match his FP3 time when it mattered most and was forced to settle for a place on the fourth row.
He later revealed that traffic had got in his way on his final run on soft tyres, but is hoping he will be able to recover the damage on race day.
“I am not happy with the position because I think we should be higher up than that. I started with a hard rear tyre in qualifying and right from the beginning I followed some other riders but couldn't quite get in a rhythm. After a few laps some riders went to the box, but I stayed out on my own and I started to make a good race pace. With a tyre that had done 20-laps I did a 22.7 so that is a good sign for the race and I feel very positive.”
“When I used my first soft tyre I made a mistake and ran off the track and lost some of the grip from the rubber, so couldn't really get the lap-time I wanted. With my second soft tyre I had a lot of riders in front of me and I just couldn't make a good, clean lap – so I am not happy about that. My rhythm is certainly better than the position and I will need to make a good start tomorrow – like Mugello – because at this track it is very important to have a good first lap as it is difficult to overtake.”
Bautista showed promising performance at Mugello after a lightning start and Rizla Suzuki team manager Paul Denning is hoping for a repeat in order to challenge for a top six result.
“The whole team – Ãlvaro included – is disappointed with 10th place on the grid, because it doesn't reflect our potential for tomorrow. Ãlvaro's qualifying lap on new soft tyres was only one-tenth quicker than what he achieved after 20-laps on the hard tyres. His race pace – if he can get away with the fast guys – looks good enough to challenge for the top-six tomorrow, so we must try to aim for that. The plan for tomorrow has to be to get the Rizla Suzuki off the line as well as Ãlvaro did in Mugello and push hard for our best dry result of the year so far.”