Alvaro Bautista has admitted he and the San Carlo Honda Gresini team have work to do before he is comfortable with his bike in wet conditions at Aragon. The Spaniard was down in tenth on Friday after a wrong set-up choice on his second run and with a wet qualifying expected, he is mindful that he needs to get it sorted for tomorrow.
“Another wet day! This morning we weren’t able to ride because the conditions were half wet and half dry and it would have been useless. In the afternoon the rain got heavier and with the track completely wet it was a good opportunity to ride. We had two settings to try and we did two runs. On the first one I just got into my rhythm and then on the second I tried to build my confidence in the wet conditions but if anything I lost it because my feeling with the front was not good. There is more rain forecast for tomorrow so we need to work hard on the suspension setting because I’m also lacking some grip on the rear.”
Meanwhile, Michele Pirro was sixth of the CRT runners, seventeenth overall and like Bautista, is targeting FP3 to make progress in order to be competitive in qualifying.
“Unfortunately the first session was a total waste of time because of the mixed conditions whilst in the second session we were able to get some work done. I am struggling to get a feeling with this bike in the wet so it was important to get some laps in with more rain forecast for tomorrow. Luckily we found out what things we need to change and hopefully tomorrow we can have a bike that will allow me to push harder and close the gap to the top CRT.”
