Strong start for Bautista on home soil despite small crash in free practice

Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista hit the ground running at one of his four home Grands Prix today, lapping fourth fastest in this afternoon’s second free practice session in Barcelona. The Spaniard showed good pace around the Circuit de Catalunya from the morning session and despite a crash due to a small problem with the brakes he came back stronger in the afternoon and stepped up his pace.

Alvaro Bautista (4th 1’42”752) “Today was a positive start to the weekend. I felt good with the bike and the track right from the start of the first session and was able to get started on the setup. The crash was unfortunate, but luckily I wasn’t hurt. In the afternoon we went out with the hard front and rear tyres, but the rear was sliding a lot and I couldn’t get a good feeling. We went back to the soft and even though it had some laps on it I was able to go fast. Tomorrow we will work with the electronics to try and get the bike working well when the tyres go off, as they will in the race. It has been a great day, but we still have work to do tomorrow to try and get a good grip position for Sunday.”

Source: Gresini Racing
Photo: Ben Davies for smartfotos.co.uk