Afternoon rain brings Bautista’s work on bike geometry and suspension to an early halt

Just three weeks on from the first test of the 2013 preseason the MotoGP teams and riders were back at Sepang today for the start of the second Malaysian session. Dry conditions this morning were replaced shortly before 3pm with a typical afternoon rain shower that brought proceedings to a premature conclusion. Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini spent the dry track time working on suspension solutions with Showa and with chassis geometry in order to find a better allround setting for the bike. Plenty more hard work is planned for both riders over the next two days of the test.

Alvaro Bautista “It was vitally important for us to get back on track so soon after the last test, so that we can verify the work we did here three weeks ago and make the necessary changes over these next couple of days here in Malaysia. Unfortunately the weather didn’t allow us much track time, but in the [32] laps that we did we managed to make some important alterations to the geometry of the bike and suspension. We did a few laps in the wet too, just to get some data for those conditions.”

Fausto Gresini “I wanted to be here in person at this second test in Malaysia so that I can have a look myself at the progress we are making. This is an important stage of preseason, when the lap times are not as important as the technical development. We have been working on finding an improved base set-up together with the guys at Showa and also working hard on improving the chassis geometry. We didn’t have much time available today, because the rain came in the afternoon, but we have a good base to work from tomorrow.”

Source: Gresini Racing