Alvaro Bautista looking to make more progress in Sepang

In Malaysia the extreme weather conditions, with very high heat and humidity, and the difficulties of an extremely varied track, put Bautista and Bradl to the test, both working on their respective Aprilia RS-GP machines to find a setting for the qualifiers and the race.

Between the first session in the morning (FP1) and the afternoon session (FP2), both Aprilia Racing Team Gresini improved, finishing in 15th place (Bradl with 2’02,118) and 19th place (Bautista with 2’02,626) in the combined standings.

The sensations were more positive for Stefan, already pleased with his base setup, whereas Alvaro, a bit behind his team mate today, needs to work particularly on rear grip in order to move up in the standings.

ALVARO BAUTISTA
“Today was not easy, partly because of a crash that slowed our work during FP1, but overall we need to improve rear grip. The bike is sliding around a lot right now and I can’t push the way I should be able to. In the second session we tried a few different solutions but since I still can’t feel the rear I’m struggling to get in a good lap. We need to analyse the data and find a solution to make progress tomorrow.”