The Ducati rider returned to the top step of the podium in Argentina, but did not have the expected end to the weekend after two podiums.
Forgotten the complicated weekend of Magny-Cours which saw him finish with a blank result, carried away in the fall of Toprak Razgatlioglu, after having encountered difficulties in being competitive on this track which he did not know. In Argentina, Alvaro Bautista returned to the forefront and returned to victory, enough to envisage a positive end to the season in Qatar, in ten days.
However, the circuit was just as unknown to him as the tricolor, and the conditions were just as complicated. If at Magny-Cours, the rain had taken its toll, this time it was the grip and the condition of the track which caused problems, going so far as to cause a boycott of race 1 by six drivers. But this time, the Spanish driver was not hampered, and went to the top of the timesheet from FP1.
Also dominating in FP2, he took pole position, his first since Assen in April! In the rhythm throughout the first race, he won at the end of 21 laps. “I'm extremely happy to have won, considering I've never seen this track before. We also won the Superpole, so the day was perfect” did he declare.
Once again starting from first place for the Tissot Superpole Race, he however had to lose to Jonathan Rea to reach the second step of the podium: “We had a good pace, but unfortunately Rea's was better and it was difficult to stay with him. I think second place was the best result we could have achieved. »
After these two good results, Bautista hoped to finish on a positive note in race 2, but it turned out to be more difficult, and he could only do better than fifth: “I got off to a pretty good start, Jonathan was a few meters ahead, but thanks to his mistake I was able to catch up with him and we had a fight. After about ten laps I started to feel an unexpected loss of grip at the rear, which caused me to lose a few places. We don't yet know what happened. It was a very difficult race and I'm disappointed because I think today we could have fought for victory. »
See you from October 25 to 27, in Losail, for the last round of the season.
