Aprilia’s Alvaro Bautista debuted the factory’s seamless gearbox during the Jerez test and was surprised by how good it was, saying it was not too far away from the Honda version he used last year.

The little Spaniard was able to set a 1’39.766 as his best lap, which was fractionalloy slower than his qualifying time, but he was way more consistent than he had been over free practice on Friday and Saturday.

“Today we focus on the seamless gearbox. It was the first time I used it because the test team try it last week and before and I can say I am happy with it. I rode before with the Honda seamless and it is not too far from that,” said Bautista, speaking at the track.

“To shift down, we need a little more work but shifting on the straight it is similar to Honda. We have to improve in the braking point because with Honda it was easier to stop the bike, it help more with engine brake but I can say that I am happy because the gearbox from 0-10 is now a seven, a good level.

“I was surprised with the feeling as I didn’t expect it would work like this. I was happy from the first exit as it is so mch better than the standard gearbox. It is too early to race as they don’t have all the cogs, some are longer and shorter. I think we can use after Mugello.”