MOTOGP: 'Big improvement' for Bautista

Alvaro Bautista, whose Gresini Honda RC213V is the only manufacturer MotoGP bike running Showa suspension, left Monday's Catalunya test delighted with the progress made. The Spaniard, sixth in Sunday's race, used the first in-season test of 2012 to seek improvements in front end grip and stability. His and Gresini's efforts were rewarded with a close fourth place at the test and renewed confidence for the upcoming rounds. “Today was a very interesting and very positive day,” said Bautista. “We worked a lot on the forks, because we had a lot of testing backlogged thanks to the cancelled test in Portugal. “The improvement that we have made is extremely positive, which gives us more confidence and helps us when shifting gears. I felt more comfortable on used tyres today at race pace. “We have been looking at the geometry of the bike and have used a new solution that I liked quite a lot. This was something that we had been wanting to test before, but had never been able to do so. “We managed to take a big step forward with the electronics for the traction control, and now we are satisfied that all this can help us when the tyres start to lose performance. “I have to thank the team for everything, because they have been working at a relentless pace in order to make sure that we could get through the workload that we had set out. “They have been exceptional and today's work has given us a big improvement for the bike compared to how it was over the grand prix weekend.”