Bautista and Gresini Team delighted with brilliant first-ever MotoGP pole position

Álvaro Bautista reaped the fruit of his hard work in the Catalunya race and test with a fantastic first MotoGP pole position at Silverstone. Almost exactly a year since Marco Simoncelli’s last pole position at Assen it was an achievement full of emotion for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini, who have worked hard in difficult conditions throughout the weekend. Confidence for the race is now high with Alvaro producing good race pace in practice as well as his flying pole lap.

So far the weather has not been kind to the 2012 British Grand Prix, with strong winds, low temperatures and occasional downpours playing havoc with the plans of riders and teams. There have been several crashes, most significantly local hero Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) who fell this morning and missed qualifying due to a foot injury.

But Spanish star Álvaro Bautista produced a brilliant qualifying performance in the tricky conditions, proving that he really is getting to grips with his RC213V after joining Fausto Gresini’s Honda team at the end of last year. Although the rain shower may have helped protect his lap time from attack, Bautista was confident that he too
could have gone faster if the track had stayed dry.

This is the former 125cc World Champion’s first pole in MotoGP. His previous best grid position for Honda was sixth place at Estoril last month. With Suzuki his best qualifying result had been a fourth place at Australia last year where he was able to start from the front row after Jorge Lorenzo had to miss the race due to injury.

Alvaro Bautista (1st 2’03”303) “I’m really happy and pleased for me and for the team. I think this pole position hasn’t come by chance – it is the result of a lot of hard work from all the guys who have all been giving 100% and perhaps sometimes a little more. The conditions today were strange and difficult, but we managed to find a good setting and I was up front for the whole session and set my fastest lap on my own. It started to rain for the last few minutes and nobody was able to improve their time, but I still had a fresh tyre to use and considering that I also made a couple of mistakes on my best lap I might have gone faster too. Tomorrow I start on pole and have a good race pace, so I hope to convert it into a good result.”

Fausto Gresini “This pole position was unexpected, but it is wonderful and exciting. It is only qualifying and the race is tomorrow, but for us it is a source of satisfaction and confirmation that we are working well with Alvaro. I am happy for Honda, San Carlo, the guys in the team, Alvaro for his first pole in MotoGP and everybody who supports us and believes in us. It is a little over a year since Marco Simoncelli set pole for the first time at Catalunya and I want to dedicate this moment to him, because it is nice to be able to smile again after so many sad days.”

Source: Press Releases Gresini Racing and Honda Pro Racing