‘At Balaton, MotoGP bikes might not even use fifth gear’ – Bautista

The MotoGP world championship returns in two weeks following its summer break, kicking off a series of five double-headers — 10 rounds in just three months.

After a trip to Austria’s Red Bull Ring in mid-August, the MotoGP paddock will head to the relatively new Balaton Park circuit, for the first Hungarian Grand Prix since 1992.

Located on the shore of Lake Balaton, some 55 miles southwest of Budapest, the new track has stirred up curiosity in the paddock, so speaking to someone who has just raced there was an ideal way to get insight into circuit.

Alvaro Bautista competed in the inaugural World Superbike round at the circuit last weekend, with a podium finish in race 1 and the sprint race before he crashed out of race 2. The Spaniard was running third when he lost the front end of his Ducati at high speed going into Turn 8 and he tumbled several times as his bike ended up on the safety barriers.

Unlike some other riders like Iker Lecuona who branded the track “not safe”, Bautista doesn’t think it’s dangerous.

“After everything that had been said, I honestly expected much worse,” he told Autosport. “Let’s just say it positively surprised me. The asphalt has a lot of grip.”

Bautista reckons it’s up to the riders to assess the risks, particularly going into the first chicane. That’s where the most serious incident of the WorldSBK weekend occurred, a pile-up that involved six bikes at the start.

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem in MotoGP, because riders in that class know they can’t take excessive risks. But the Moto2 guys, and especially those in Moto3, will have to be really careful – especially on the first lap,” said the two-time World Superbike champion.

Regarding the barriers, Bautista noted a few spots where the confines of the circuit are narrow and ideally should be adjusted. “At Turn 1, the wall is pretty close, and also on the outside of Turn 5. In those two sections, if something goes wrong, it could be dangerous,” the Ducati rider emphasised.

Measuring 4.08km with 17 corners, Balaton Park is the third-shortest track on the calendar after the Sachsenring (3.67km) and Valencia (4.01km), and all signs point to it being the slowest circuit.

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s pole lap was 149kph in World Superbike, 5kph slower than previous slowest track Cremona.

“It’s a very slow track that favors agile bikes. Whoever can, ditch the wings,” Bautista joked, before adding: “With the Superbikes, we only hit fifth gear on one straight – and then immediately downshift. In fact, since MotoGP bikes can adjust their gear ratios and sprockets, they might not even use fifth gear at all.”