ARAGON ROUND | SUNDAY
May 31, 2026
For Álvaro Bautista, the day was primarily dedicated to adapting to a circuit that presents a particular challenge at this stage of his physical recovery. Misano features numerous right-hand corners and very rapid direction changes, characteristics that place significant stress on a foot that has not yet fully recovered from injury. Despite the difficulties, the Spaniard continued to improve throughout the session, finishing FP1 in thirteenth place with a time of 1:33.717.
In the afternoon, Bautista approached the second session with a different program. The #19 rider did not use a fresh tire for a qualifying-style time attack, instead focusing on race setup development and collecting valuable data for the remainder of the weekend. In this context, his twelfth-place finish with a 1:33.554 lap time is an encouraging result, considering that the session’s primary goal was to establish a solid foundation for the races rather than chase outright pace over a single lap.
Attention now turns to qualifying, which carries particular importance at the Misano circuit and will provide the first real benchmark of the weekend.
The lights for Race 1 will then go out at 3:30 PM.
#THERECONQUEST
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“It was a slightly more difficult day compared to Aragón. This circuit is certainly more demanding physically for my foot, especially because of the many right-hand corners. In addition, we were not able to take part in the Misano test like many other riders, so we started a little further behind. During the day, we tried some changes to the bike, but I didn’t find the feeling I was looking for. For that reason, tomorrow we will probably return to a setup closer to the one we used in the previous races, with the aim of regaining the positive sensations I had in Aragón. We still have room for improvement. Our pace wasn’t bad, and I believe that by working on the feeling with the bike we can take another step forward. Tomorrow it will be important to continue working in this direction so that we can be in the best possible shape for the key sessions of the weekend.”