On 9 November 2011, it was announced that Bautista would move to Gresini Racing for the  season. He replaced the late Marco Simoncelli and the World Superbike bound Hiroshi Aoyama.
In November of 2011, Bautista joined Gresini Racing for the upcoming season. He took over from Marco Simoncelli, who sadly passed away, and Hiroshi Aoyama, who was moving to World Superbike competition.