No big improvements as Bautista continues comprehensive testing of Showa updates

The rain finally held off at Sepang today, allowing Alvaro Bautista to rack up 52 testing laps around a dry albeit still slippery circuit.

With ambient temperatures between 33°C and 35°C the Spanish rider was able to clock a best lap of 2’ 01.89 as he continued to work intensively with the new material brought to Malaysia by Showa for the front and rear suspension.

Small but important improvements were made throughout the day, with more tests on Showa updates due to be carried out on the final day of the test tomorrow.

Alvaro Bautista: “It has been a long and busy day, because we had a lot of stuff from Showa to test. It was hard, because every time I exited on track was with a new fork or new rear shock, so it was not easy to stay focussed. The small positive we found yesterday is the only positive we had today. We tested different suspensions, but we didn’t find any better settings than yesterday. It has been hard, but in the end we could test everything.

It was not what we expected, but this is reality. We have to speak with HRC and together we have to take a decision [about which suspension to use next year]. This is not easy, as I’m here to try and improve the Showa suspension by request from HRC, but after two busy days of work we didn’t find big improvements, so we have to talk to HRC and take a decision together.”

Source: Gresini Racing, motogp.com