Perfect weekend for Bautista at Barcelona with hat-trick of wins. Rinaldi fights back to take a podium. Bulega sidelined with tecnical issue in WorldSSP

Another sensational hat-trick, the third of the season so far, for Alvaro Bautista who dominates the weekend at Barcelona and celebrates at the parc ferme alongside his team-mate Michael Rinaldi, protagonist of an excellent race. 

Alvaro Bautista is in sensational shape and he completes another perfect weekend that began with Pole Position and ended with three wins. Race-2 is also a domination of the Spanish rider: on the second lap he starts building the gap, and he passes under the chequered flag with a big advantage.

Michael Rinaldi is in pain on his right hand after the crash in Race-1, but he grits his teeth and makes himself the protagonist of a fantastic Race-2. He first fights with Lowes (Kawasaki) and Razgatlioglu (Yamaha), then he pushes hard. 
When the second position seems conquered, the sudden drop of the rear tyre allows Toprak to steal him the second step of the podium.

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team now moves on to Misano for testing on 11 and 12 May. 

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #1)
“I want to say it: it was a perfect weekend. I am very very happy. It’s clear that this is a circuit I really like but to win three races in front of my family, friends and fans is always a great feeling. It’s a fantastic start to the season but I only want to think about testing and *the * Misano round, where the competition will be fierce”.

Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #21)
“It was a very special weekend in which everything happened. In the Superpole Race I was going strong, I was fighting for the podium, but when some drops started to fall I had to focus on not falling in order to protect my right hand. In Race 2 things went very well even though in the last two laps the rear tyre dropped a lot more than expected. Toprak caught me but it doesn’t matter. It’s still a nice podium.    
 

  • WorldSSP

The feeling with his Panigale V2 is not the same as in Race 1 and Bulega struggles in the first laps dropping to seventh position. The Italian rider’s comeback is relentless but when he finds himself close to the podium area, two laps from the end the bike stops due to an electrical problem. 

Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WSSP #11)
“I can’t deny that it was a positive weekend even though, obviously, this retirement weighs quite heavily in terms of the classification. Anyway, we are on the right track and I can’t wait to be in Misano, a circuit I like a lot”.

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