“Not a productive day” for Bautista but good first impression in wet conditions

The second day of this final pre-season test at Jerez was mostly lost to wet weather. The day started out cold and damp with a gale blowing over the circuit around lunch time, leaving the racing line damp for most of the afternoon. Only in the final 20 minutes of the session was the surface just about dry enough to tempt a good number of riders out of the pits.

Top Honda rider of the day was Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V) who was fourth quickest as he continues to acclimatise to his Honda. The Spaniard put in his best lap at the very end of the day, but admitted that he did not learn a great deal in the conditions. Fastest man of all was Nicky Hayden (Ducati) who also set his best time during the final minutes, the American’s lap about one second outside the lap record.

Tomorrow’s weather at Jerez is expected to be a big improvement, with warm and dry conditions expected throughout the day. It will be an important day for everyone, the last outing before the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix in two weeks.

Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V): 4th, 1m 42.711s
“It has been a similar day to the second test at Sepang in Malaysia, but we at least managed to get some laps in the wet and the first impressions are good because I have confidence in the bike so that’s positive. Then the track started to dry out, but there was no point riding because the wet tyres just tore up. In the final 30 minutes we got some track time and I was happy with what we achieved but it wasn’t really dry. In conclusion is hasn’t been a productive day so we just have to hope for better conditions tomorrow.”

Fausto Gresini “Today was endless, with the track conditions bringing everything to a halt. It was neither wet nor dry so everything was difficult. Luckily when the track was at its wettest Alvaro managed to get some laps in and built his confidence with the bike in these conditions. The most important job he was did was some practice starts with different settings, which was very useful. Overall it was a waste of a day, especially for the CRT bike because we were only able to get a few laps in and set up for tomorrow.The good thing is that we continue to move forward every time we get on track and that gives us confidence. It will be an intense day tomorrow trying to make up for lost time, which for the CRT project is a precious commodity. ”

Sources: Honda Racing, Team Gresini