Alvaro Bautista believes tyre preservation will be a key factor in the outcome of tomorrow's Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Rizla Suzuki rider qualified in ninth place, giving him reason to feel confident for tomorrow but with 28 laps ahead of him, the Spaniard is expecting a challenging race.
“The qualifying today was not too bad compared with the last few races, so this is a lot better for us. We tried a long run at the start of the session and the grip from the rear was no problem, but the front did not have enough life in it to make a full race length. This will make things difficult for tomorrow, because we have to try and preserve the front tyre and make sure we have enough durability for 28-laps. We are starting from the third row so the main thing will be to get a good start and stay with the front guys. We will look at today's data to see if we can use a setting that will give us more life in the tyre and stop it dropping off and sliding around. I am looking forward to tomorrow because we have a better grid position and I will give it full gas and 100% to get a good result.”
Team Manager Paul Denning wasn't overly happy with the qualifying result but with a solid base to work from, knows that the team have the capability to challenge for a top six finish.
“I don't think Ãlvaro or anyone else on the team is particularly excited with ninth on the grid, but the third row gives us a decent chance to go with the fast guys on the early laps and challenge for a good result tomorrow. We've done a number of long runs and as much as 35-laps on a race rear tyre – and the rhythm was still pretty good. We now need Ãlvaro to race aggressively tomorrow like he has done recently and I think we can hope to have an exciting afternoon.”
