Bautista encounters Honda chatter issues for the first time in wet conditions at Jerez

Mixed weather on the opening day of the Spanish Grand Prix made for difficult conditions at Jerez. Alvaro Bautista completed only a handful of laps in the damp this morning, but spent most of the afternoon session lapping on the fully wet track to find a good setup for these conditions, finishing the day in 7th position.

Forecasts for the rest of the weekend don’t look much better than for today and mixed weather conditions should continue until the race on Sunday, which might throw in a few surprises on the results list.

Alvaro Bautista (Free Practice 2 – 7th 1’ 53.166) “It has been a very difficult day because of the mixed weather. This morning the light rainfall did not wet the track enough for us to use the wet tyres properly so we only managed four laps. It was pretty damp this afternoon though so we were able to gather some confidence with this bike in the wet and found a way forward with the set-up, although a couple of little problems slowed my progress. As the track dried it was more and more difficult to work so we’ll have to wait for tomorrow now and see what we get.”

Fausto Gresini “It has been a tough day and difficult conditions to work in. Alvaro has done a good job despite suffering from a chatter problem for the first time. It is the first time we have used wet tyres so maybe this was the reason. We will work hard to put things right tomorrow.”

Source: Gresini Racing