After the traditional opening night under the lights in Qatar the MotoGP World Championship begins its European summer road trip in Spain this weekend as Jerez de la Frontera prepares to host the world's premier motorcycle racing series, as it has done every year since 1987. For Team San Carlo Honda Gresini riders Alvaro Bautista and Michele Pirro the second round of the season presents an opportunity to build on the progress made in Qatar and show their true potential at a circuit more suited to them. Bautista is determined to enter the battle at the front of the pack in front of his home crowd, having established a good feel for his Honda RC213V machine around this track during preseason testing. Pirro's main challenge is to continue development of the team's new CRT bike, which has shown good potential during its limited track life so far. A two-week break since the last race has given the team time to work on the fledgling machine, with Pirro hopeful of an increasingly competitive package as the season progresses.
The Jerez circuit has traditionally been one of the most fruitful for Team Gresini, who have celebrated ten podium finishes there in a little over a decade. Loris Capirossi scored the first team’s first success at the Andalusian track with third place in the 250cc race in 1999. Daijiro Kato went one better to take second in the same event one year later before taking a sensational victory on his way to the quarter-litre title in 2001. The Japanese legend celebrated his first MotoGP podium at Jerez with second place on a memorable day for the team in 2002, when Roberto Rolfo and Emilio Alzamora made it a trio of podiums with second and third place respectively in the 250 race. However, the highlight for the team at the famous Spanish circuit came in 2004, when Sete Gibernau clinched an unforgettable home victory in the MotoGP race. The Spaniard followed up with second place in 2005, when he was joined on the podium by his team-mate Marco Melandri, whilst Toni Elias returned the team to the top step in Moto2 in 2010. The team also have great memories of last year, when Marco Simoncelli led a MotoGP race for the first time before eventually crashing in wet conditions.
Fausto Gresini
“The first race of the season in Qatar gives us an idea of how the season can be for us and I thought Bautista showed the potential to be running at the front in future. It wasn't an easy weekend because we had three cashes to contend with but in the end it was a positive weekend. He ran with a competitive group, fought hard for sixth place and could have maybe even finished higher. He had a good pace at Jerez in testing despite a few crashes there too so if he can improve his feeling for the Honda RC213V from Qatar he should have a good weekend. The incredible Spanish crowd will be behind Alvaro at Jerez which is an important factor and can help him make that step up to the lead group. It wasn't an easy debut for the CRT project in Qatar because the bike is still so young and needs a lot of work, especially with us having fallen behind the planned schedule. It is an important project to us and the guys are working hard on it with a lot of enthusiasm. That includes Michele, who is giving his maximum every time he goes out on track and I am sure we will see marked improvements this weekend after that first real outing with the bike in Qatar. With the changes we have made since then we can look forward to taking another step forward at Jerez.”
Honda Gresini Press Release
