Bautista ready to continue good momentum at team’s home race in Misano
The Grand Prix of San Marino and Riviera di Rimini is a very special event for Team GO & FUN Honda Gresini. Just a few kilometres away from the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is the San Marino headquarters of the team’s main sponsor GO & FUN, whilst even closer to the track is the Gresini Racing workshop. There could be no larger incentive for Alvaro Bautista and Bryan Staring then as they look to score positive results and in the case of Bautista continue an excellent run of form that started before the summer break at Laguna Seca. Despite some early problems in practice at Silverstone last time out, the weekend finished in style for Bautista, who battled to the line with Valentino Rossi and missed out on fourth place to the multiple World Champion by just 0.065 seconds. Bautista’s recent efforts on board the RC213V are a credit to him, but also the fruit of a lot of hard work from the team, Showa, Nissin and Honda. Alvaro’s goal is to continue in the same vein at Misano, a circuit that he likes and where he scored his first ever MotoGP podium just one year ago.
Alvaro Bautista “We had another fantastic weekend at Silverstone, working hard with the team on the setting of the bike, which wasn’t ideal on Friday. We managed to put together an excellent race, not far off the back of the lead group and I really enjoyed myself in another great battle with Valentino, who eventually beat me by a matter of a few centimetres. Our current run of form is very positive, so we have to keep doing the right things and this will keep us moving forwards. Misano holds some good memories for me and it is also my team’s home track. I have been on the podium there many times, including my first in MotoGP last season after a big battle with a bunch of riders, but especially with Dovizioso. This year it won’t be easy, because the level in MotoGP has gone up another notch, but we will try our best to continue our excellent momentum. The goal is to close the gap even further to the top three and try to break them if we can. It is not a great track for overtaking and overall it is quite slow, despite a fast section at the end. It will be important for us to concentrate hard from the start on finding a set-up with good stability under braking and plenty of acceleration out of the corners. This is a more important aspect at Misano than top speed.”
Fausto Gresini “Misano is always a very special race for our team. It is an exciting event, because it takes place just a few kilometres from our workshop and the track holds extra significance to us since being renamed in honour of our beloved Marco Simoncelli. It is a special weekend and we hope it sees a continuation of the ‘magic moment’ that began for us back at Laguna Seca. Alvaro and the RC213V are showing a good level of performance thanks to the work being done by the team, the engineers from Showa and Nissin and obviously Honda, who have given us a competitive package. A good result here would set us up nicely for the final stage of the season and would be a nice way to thank our main sponsor GO & FUN, who also have their headquarters just a few kilometres from the track. I am confident, because the team are showing a very professional attitude.”
Source: Gresini Racing
