Rizla Suzuki rider Ãlvaro Bautista fell victim to yet more bad weather, as the qualifying session for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix was hit by rain just after the halfway point. The rain came just after Bautista had fitted a new set of tyres in order to try and beat his time of 1:50.460, but then the rain came.
After returning to the garage in the hope that the rain would pass, Bautista was left disappointed as the rain continued to get heavier. Even more disappointing was the fact that the Suzuki rider was consistently in the top 6 during the morning practice session. As it turned out, he was left floundering down in 14th near the back of the grid.
“Terrible is the only word I can use to explain what this afternoon was!” said Ãlvaro
“This morning I had a good session and felt like the bike was working well. We tried a different setting to give me less movement in the corners and we made a good step forward with this. This afternoon though the conditions were horrible because it rained a bit before the start of the session and then it stopped, so I started with a used tyre just to check the track, but maybe I spent too long out there with that. When we put in the new tyres to get a good lap it started raining, so it was difficult to set a fast time.” he continued.
But, the Spaniard is confident ahead of tomorrow. “We are near the back of the grid and I will try my best to make a good start tomorrow. I have a nice rhythm from this morning and I have to forget about this afternoon, even though it was important to get a good grid position – that has gone now – and I must try my best in the race and see what happens!”
