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Shanghai: Alvaro Bautista on course for second pole of the season

In MotoGP

02 maggio 2008

Shanghai: Alvaro Bautista on course for second pole of the season

Today the preparations began for round four of the 250cc World Championship in Shanghai. Hermann Tike's circuit is holding it's final Grand Prix this weekend, after four years of action. The fight between Austrian factory KTM and the dominant Aprilia manufacturer continued, with an exciting duel between Alvaro Bautista and Mika Kallio for provisional pole.

Consistency is the main goal for Álvaro Bautista on the opening day in the Far East. He was the only rider capable of riding extended laps at a pace of 2'05, and took provisional pole breaking the unofficial circuit record. An incredible 2.05.035 lap enabled him to hold of a challenge from Mika Kallio at the last moment.

Step by step, Héctor Faubel is making headway into the front group in his rooki year. This is a continuation from his Portugal performance, and enabled him to move into eighth with a best time of 2.06.675 clocked on the final lap of his afternoon. He was just a second and a half behind teammate Bautista.

1º Álvaro Bautista: 2.05.035 (16 laps): "In the afternoon the track was much more grippy compared with the morning, and I'm happy because my pace was pretty good and was done with race tyres. Tomorrow we will try and undertake a race simulation of sorts to test out the durability of the rubber. We put in a lot of laps today and hardly missed a beat, so I think that we should be working towards the race instead of just that one fast lap. We did this, and various times were under the record time. The setting is good and the lines from last year still work, but there is always room for improvement."

8º Héctor Faubel: 2.06.675 (15 laps): "I am happy because the changes that we made turned out to be for the better. We keep taking steps forward, and now I'm on the same row as Simoncelli, who is my reference point because of his Aprilia being similar to mine. Our start has been satisfying, and if we continue like this then we'll have a good race. The main changes until now have been with the tyres, and in the rear end of the bike as we adjust the compression and extension. Shanghai is a circuit that I like, but I was never great here in 125cc. I am more comfortable here with the 250cc. Apart from Alvaro and Kallio, who are out in front, our group can fight to be up there."