Bautista puts focus on electronics setup
In his first visit to Jerez on the San Carlo Gresini Honda RC213V, Álvaro Bautista ended the day seventh fastest with a time of 1’40.545s after 56 laps and escaping unhurt from an early crash. Bautista’s previous experience on the RC213V had come in the tropical conditions of Sepang, Malaysia. The track and ambient temperatures in southern Spain however are much more moderate, presenting new challenges for the riders and technicians. In addition, Bautista has little MotoGP experience at Jerez having been sidelined at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix after breaking his femur at in a practice crash at Qatar. Despite hundreds of laps in Jerez, the Spaniard was initially caught out by how tight the circuit seemed on the RC213V, joking that’s there’s much less space between corners. But he adapted as the day went on, working steadily on finding a consistent pace and ended the day confident of the team’s direction.
Álvaro Bautista (56 laps – 7th 1’40.545) “Today went well on a track with very different characteristics to Malaysia, especially considering that I haven’t ridden Jerez for a couple of years and I’d forgotten how close all the corners are to each other! We worked a lot on the electronics in terms of power delivery and anti-wheelie, which is an important issue at this track. I had a little crash this morning that cost us a little time but in the afternoon we put a good rhythm together around the 1’40.5 mark and tried two different Bridgestone front tyres which gave me a lot of feel. The new tyres are a lot better than the ones we had been using and that’s important for confidence in corner entry. Overall I am happy because we have improved with every outing and finished the day with a good pace. My confidence with the bike is growing, the team is working really well and as I said before we’re on the right lines. Obviously we’re going to need a little time to take the next step but I think we’ll be ready for the first race.”
Fausto Gresini “We have to be happy with the first day of testing here, with Alvaro not too far from the front and with plenty of margin for improvement. Obviously the crash was a setback and without it he could possibly have ended the day faster but we have to take into consideration the fact that Alvaro hasn’t ridden here for two years, so he needed time to get into his rhythm. Once again his working method has proven to be in line with that of the team and I think we will see the results of that over the next couple of days.”
Sources: Gresini Racing, Honda Pro Racing
