If the opening day of practice was anything to go by the French Grand Prix could be one to remember for all the right reasons for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini, with Alvaro Bautista finding crucial confidence on board the Honda RC213V and lapping fourth fastest by the end of the two sessions today. Despite a crash this morning Michele Pirro also made an encouraging start to his weekend, closing the gap to the top factory riders on his FTR machine.
Alvaro Bautista
“Today was a very positive start for us. We tried some things with the setting to improve the bike from Estoril and initially they didn’t work that well but with a few tweaks to the suspension we found some interesting solutions. We continued to work in the same direction in the afternoon and I felt a lot better on the bike than I did at Estoril and Jerez. Obviously there are still some little details to work on but for now I am happy because we have taken a step forward. We’ll have to keep an eye on the weather tomorrow but I am hopeful.”
Michele Pirro
“I had a crash this morning and thankfully escaped unhurt despite being thrown around. I have a little pain in my back but we were able to work hard throughout the afternoon on the new chassis. We have gathered a lot of data and closed the gap to the top CRT. Obviously we still have a lot of work to do but my first impressions are good. Tomorrow we will keep working hard and hopefully take another step forward.”
Fausto Gresini
“I’d say we have started out on the right foot even though Alvaro is not a big fan of this track. The team have worked hard along with the Honda engineers to improve under braking and corner entry. Alvaro liked the new solutions and we have taken an important step forward. Our main objective is to fight with Dovizioso and Crutchlow and I think we are on the right path. As far as the CRT project is concerned Michele had his first big crash and that set us back. We have a new chassis to work with here and in the afternoon we were able to get some encouraging laps in. There are some other things to try and I am sure that when we get them in place we will be up there fighting to be the top CRT. ”
Full free practice one results are available here, free practice two results are available here.
