Alvaro Bautista put three crashes on day-🅺one behind him in Portugal to finish round two of the 2021 WorldSBK championship with a tenth and seventh in Sunday’s races. 

Bautiജsta had two crashes in FP1, before a third at the very beginning of FP2, however, the Spaniard recovered from 18th on the grid to salvage valuable points. 

Bautista was one of a few riders caught out in qualifying and therefore out of position in all♒ three races. 

After another difficult weekend f▨or Honda, Bautista said: "Another hard-fought race because I had to start eighteenth again, after just missing out on securing a better grid position with my tenth-place finish in the sprint race. 

"In the end, the afternoon’s race was trickier than yesterday’s, as the temperature was different and the track൲ was more slippery. I took many risks with the front and was very close to the 🐷limit. 

"Our pac✱e was not bad though and I think that was worth a top-five finish. But starting from t💙he back and lapping with similar pace to the frontrunners, it was tough to close the gap. 

"A pity really, because when they cancelled my qualifying lap, they basically eliminaᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚted any chance for me to fight for better positi🍬ons. 

"The positive is that we were a🉐ble to rebuild confidence with the bike after a difficult start to the weekend and I can head into t💜he next round with a good feeling again. Now we must take another step forward."

Next up for Bautista is Misano, a track where he took a third and a win▨ his 2019 debut season, while he also has a podium from his time in MotoGP at the Italian venue whic⛎h came in 2012.