Bautista focuses work on suspension settings and improving confidence in Mugello test

After a difficult race weekend in Mugello the San Carlo Honda Gresini Team stayed for the one-day test at the Italian circuit on Monday to try to resolve the problems they had encountered during the weekend and improve the riders’ confidence. The team didn’t receive any new parts from Honda to test, but worked through different suspension settings and tested out the soft tyre which they couldn’t use during the race on Bridgestone’s orders.

With asphalt temperatures over 50°C, Álvaro Bautista did a total of 49 laps with the soft tyre, finding more confidence on the bike compared with the harder option which the team had to use on Bridgestone’s advice during the weekend. But still it wasn’t easy for the Spaniard to quickly find a good pace again as he had to regain his confidence after being well down the order for the whole weekend, struggling to find the right setup for the hard tyres and suffering three crashes in three sessions while dealing with the issue of a dangerous brake failure. He was also still feeling the aftereffects of his collision with Casey Stoner during Sunday’s race, as he suffered from some pain in his elbow where Stoner’s bike had hit him, but he managed to post 22 laps within the 1.48’5s, with a best lap of 1.48’530 which meant 9th position overall at the end of the day. A pity, because the race would have been much more consistent for Álvaro with this setting, but the Talaverano was still happy, because he successfully worked to make further progress with the Show suspension ahead of the next race in the USA.

After the test session ended, the team packed up the 18 crates with the bikes and all materials which are now on their way to Laguna Seca where the next Grand Prix will take place on July 29th.

Source: Gresini Racing