 He replaced the late Marco Simoncelli and the World Superbike bound Hiroshi Aoyama.He would later be joined by Gresini's Moto2 rider Michele Pirro, who would ride a CRT specification FTR-Honda as opposed to Bautista, who would ride a MotoGP specification Honda.Bautista finished each of the first five races inside the top ten; of those races, his best result was sixth place on three occasions.