A moderate start in Race 1, Álvaro Bautista did not appreciate at all the contact he had with his teammate Chaz Davies in the first corner and which sent him outside the limits of the track (photo above), as a result of which he found himself almost dead last.
Bautista arrived in Portugal still suffering from damaged shoulder ligaments at Laguna Seca, a debilitating injury that took a long time to recover. He was not at 100% when he arrived in Portimão, but a good first day on Friday with the second time only 0.078 behind leader Johnny Rea gave him hope of having a good weekend.
Everything seemed to be going well except that in qualifying he only achieved the sixth time (but first Ducati rider) while Chaz Davies was twelfth. “Due to the weakness in my shoulder, we decided with the team to do few laps, and to switch to the qualifying tire very early before there was too much traffic on the track » explained the Spaniard.
During the start, as seen in the images below, Bautista and Davies made contact in the first corner, and the Spaniard was pushed towards the outside of the track.
Is Davies responsible? Everyone will make up their own mind by looking at these images.
How @ 19Bautista has lost 12 positions👇🏻
An unusual race 1 start for the Spanish rider 😞#PRTWorldSBK 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/Hzea0tyLW8
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) September 7, 2019
Still, Bautista was very angry with the Welshman after the finish, making him entirely responsible for his misfortunes.
He concluded with humor: “ When you have a teammate like Chaz, who needs enemies? »
Sixteenth at the end of the first round, 5.683 behind leader Johnny Rea, Bautista finished fourth at 8.564.
Chaz Davies' version: “ I just had a really good first lap, was aggressive and held my place after overtaking, and from there I went forward. My start wasn't that good, and I dived very inside in turn 1 and I think I forced Alvaro to lift his bike a little, so I apologize for that. It wasn't my intention to cause him any problems, but it happened, I saw the hole and went into the turn. »
Davies finished second, 3.891 behind Rea.
Below: After contact, in the next corner:
Images © worldsbk.com and Videopass Dorna
