Friday WorldSBK Debrief – Álvaro Bautista: “That’s a them problem, I do this because I like that’s all.”

In the rider debrief’s after the Practice sessions today Álvaro Bautista addressed the hateful comments from social media that erupted last night after Ducati and WorldSBK posted about his colourful new hair. The new hair has meant he has a rainbow on the back of his head which his daughter did for him. He also finished fifth in the timing.

Bautista said: “The comments in the social network I try to not read because you cannot see the people who say that so maybe it’s not true, the people it’s easy to speak without [them] looking at your face. For me it doesn’t matter all the comments that people make in the social network. The fact is I did this because I felt funny from my daughter, they enjoyed a lot. I’m not responsible for how people can think and comment. That’s a them problem, I do this because I like that’s all.”

Nicolò Bulega finished second in today’s timing: “I’m happy I improved a lot the feeling with my bike compared to the test, in that test I didn’t like the feeling so in general I’m more happy because yes the feeling is improved quite a lot. I know that we are still far from Toprak but the race pacers not so bad so I think if we can make another step we are even more close.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu suffered a technical issue that ruled him out of FP1 and meant he only had FP2 to gather data on his tires. Despite all that he still managed to finish FP2 fastest. Razgatlioglu said: “I like this circuit only the problem is the hot conditions and I tried the tires too late and in general I feel good and just need to improve some area and after I think 100% happy and if I’m in good pace but I feel I have more just need little bit.”

Michael Van der Mark also finished in the top 3, with third the BMW working well again with the Ducatis in this round. “The thing with this track is you never get bored so if you go testing, I prefer testing here because it is a special track. I really like a lot of it also because it is one of my favourite tracks, the laps come quite easy and then you can focus on a lot of other things as well.”

Full Combined Friday Practice Times Order