Alvaro Bautista completes impressive 52 laps on day one of Qatar test

Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista completed today the first of three days of night-time testing at Losail circuit, which will host the opening round of the campaign later this month.

After the excellent results achieved at Sepang, under the floodlights Alvaro Bautista continued his working program on the Honda RC213V, looking for important confirmations in completely different conditions from those encountered in Malaysia.

The Spaniard completed an impressive 52 laps over the session, setting the fourth fastest time of the day in 1’56”081.

The second day of the Test is scheduled to run from 4pm-11pm local time tomorrow.

ALVARO BAUTISTA (1’56″081 – 52 LAPS)
“After the good test at Sepang we were very confident ahead of this test in Qatar, even though I knew that this track would have been difficult for us, because in the last two years we have always found some problems. Unfortunately, some problems were still here today, especially with regard to the front end. I’m struggling to stop the bike under braking and on corner entry my feeling is not so good . Regarding the rear end, we confirmed that the new Showa shock absorber works better than the previous one, but tomorrow we will also have to work in this area in order to find more grip. All in all, we remain confident: the track today was already in good condition, better than many other times, therefore lap times are already dropping quickly. Tomorrow we want to improve the bike to try to make the most of it”.

FAUSTO GRESINI
“It’s been a positive first day of testing, even though we expect other two intense days in which we will have to work hard: the Losail track has always been a bit difficult for us, but today Bautista was once again among the fastest. If we will be able to solve some set-up issues we faced today, I am convinced that we can enter the first race in good shape.”.

Source: Gresini Racing