Fifth for Bautista in Race 1 at Barcelona, Haslam battles through the field to tenth

A solid frontrunner across all sessions over the last few rounds, Alvaro Bautista scored a top five finish in today’s Race 1 at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, after having achieved third place during the morning’s Tissot Superpole, the best qualifying result of the season so far for both rider and Team HRC. After a less than perfect start from tenth on the grid, Leon Haslam found himself in fifteenth place early on in the race. Keeping his cool, the Brit was able to make up several positions to ultimately cross the line in tenth position.

Earlier in the day, riders took part in the final free practice, which ran on a half wet-half dry track. The Superpole then took place on an almost dry track just a couple of hours later. Both Bautista and Haslam made good inroads right from the start, switching to the qualifying tyre in the final stages. The Spanish rider set his fastest time in the final two minutes of the 25-minute session, a 1.41’757 to qualify in third place. Haslam’s best flying lap on the qualifying solution was a 1’42.421 which saw him place tenth come the session’s end, so a fourth-row race start for the Brit.

The weekend’s first race got underway at 2pm local time. From third on the grid, Alvaro lost a few places off the line, positioning seventh through lap one. He quickly moved back up into fifth place, pushing to stick with fourth-placed van der Mark before passing the Dutchman on lap seven. Suffering from a drop in tyre performance during the latter stages, the Spaniard fought hard to secure the best possible result, battling with van der Mark almost to the line and earning himself a solid top five finish in the process. Team-mate Haslam was lying fifteenth through the opening stages, but gradually began to make up positions as he got into his rhythm. Positioning twelfth by the mid-race point, the Brit continued to make progress, maintaining consistent pace and defending himself from an attack by Folger in the final stages to cross the line in tenth place.