Alvaro Bautista reaped the fruit of his hard work in the Catalunya race and test with a fantastic first MotoGP pole position here at Silverstone. Almost exactly a year since Marco Simoncelli's last pole position at Assen it was an achievement full of emotion for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini, who have worked hard in difficult conditions throughout the weekend. Confidence for the race is now high with Alvaro producing good race pace in practice as well as his flying pole lap.
Alvaro Bautista said, "I'm really happy for myself and also pleased for the team. This pole position hasn't happened by coincidence – it is the fruit of a lot of hard work from all the guys who have all been giving 100% and sometimes a little more. The conditions today were strange and difficult but we managed to find a good setting, I was up front for the whole session and set my fastest lap on my own. It started to rain for the last few minutes and nobody was able to improve their time but I still had a fresh tyre to use and made a couple of mistakes on my best lap so could have gone faster too. Tomorrow I start on pole and have a good race pace so hopefully we can convert it into a good result."
Fausto Gresini added, "This pole position was unexpected but it is wonderful and exciting.It is only qualifying and the race is tomorrow but for us it is a source of satisfaction and confirmation that we are working well with Alvaro. I am happy for Honda, San Carlo, the guys in the team, Alvaro for his first pole in MotoGP and everybody who supports us and believes in us. It is a little over a year since Marco Simoncelli set pole for the first time at Catalunya and I want to dedicate this moment to him because it is nice to be able to smile again after so many sad days."
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