Not an easy start for Bautista as he focuses on tyre choice for the race

Laguna Seca is never an easy circuit to adapt to, but the job was made even more difficult for Alvaro Bautista today thanks to a strange crash that thankfully the Spaniard walked away from. However, in the end the team were able to get the data they required, in particular regarding tyre choice for Sunday’s race. Further information will be gathered tomorrow when Alvaro will also be looking to make up positions on the time sheets and secure a good position on the grid.

Alvaro Bautista (10th 1’22”853): “We did some comparisons this morning with some different settings, but we weren’t happy, so we took a step backwards for the afternoon. We were concentrating mainly on tyre choice but then when we made another slight change to the setting I crashed and honestly can’t explain why. Maybe there was something on the track, because shortly afterwards Valentino crashed in the same spot. We were able to keep working after that and I think we’ll go with the soft tyre because it gives me better feel and with the hard tyre we’re having the same grip problems that we’ve had elsewhere. We’ll probably also go soft on the front, because even though the hard is okay the soft gives me more confidence. It hasn’t been an easy start and there is still a lot of work to do, but I am optimistic about tomorrow, because I think we can make up time in a few places and get closer to the top guys.”

Source: Gresini Racing Press Release