After a month-long summer break Alvaro Bautista focused his efforts on rediscovering his feeling with his bike before working on adapting it to the unique demands of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in today's opening free pract ice sessions at the legendary American track. Track conditions were not ideal for the task this morning but they improved in the second session this afternoon and Alvaro was able to improve, despite lacking some grip on the rear in corner exit and on the front in corner entry. However, with the lap times looking tight amongst the top riders in the class the prospects look good for tomorrow's qualifying session. For Bryan Staring this is another new circuit for him to learn and he has made good progress over the course of the opening day.
Alvaro Bautista (7th 1’ 40” 087)
“ Today was our first day back on the bike after the summer break and it was important for us to get a feel for the track and for the bike after such a good weekend last time out at Laguna. The track wasn't perfect this morning but the conditions improved this afternoon and we were even able to test the hard rear tyre but I wasn't happy with it. We went back to working with the soft but the rear grip wasn't great and I couldn't get on the gas as I would like coming out of the corners. Anyway we are confident we can improve tomorrow and improve our feeling with the front, which is currently giving us some problems in corner entry.”
Bryan Staring (23th 1’ 43” 253)
“I am quite happy because we have established a good feel for the track and taken some positive steps over the course of the day. I thought I would struggle more than I have but we seem to be on the right lines and if we keep working in the same way tomorrow I think we can take a big chunk out of the lap time.”
Fausto Gresini
“Seventh place, half a second off the top, is a positive finish to a day that has involved a lot of hard work over the two sessions. The pace is good and I think the potential was there for a better lap time, which gives me confidence for tomorrow and Sunday. The top guys have set a fast pace but can get amongst them. Bryan has made good steps forward over the course of the day, he likes the track and I am sure he can improve a lot more tomorrow.”
Fun&Go Honda Gresini Press Release
