virgivaughn: Alvaro Bautista Extends With Gresini Honda For 2013

The mystery of the final MotoGP prototype seat has been solved: after months of negotiations, Alvaro Bautista has finally retained the Honda RC213V ride with the San Carlo Gresini Honda team. The Spaniard will remain with the Italian team for another season.

The contract extension has come at a cost, however: Bautista has had to take a drastic cut in his salary to stay with the team. According to the Spanish website Motocuatro.com, Bautista's wage has been slashed to five figures, with the amount of 90,000 euros being passed down the paddock grapevine. Negotiations were made tougher because of the popularity of the seat: Scott Redding was in the running for the ride, as was Ben Spies for a while. Spies was the first to drop out of the race, taking a seat with the Ducati Junior team to be run by Pramac. Redding lost out to Bautista over sponsorship: despite having interests in the UK market, San Carlo preferred an Italian or Spanish rider, to help promote the brand in their primary market. Bautista is at least getting paid, a number of riders have had to bring sponsorship money to take a CRT ride. Redding will remain with the Marc VDS Racing team and spend another year in Moto2, alongside Mika Kallio.