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 2011, Bautista joined Gresini Racing as a replacement for Marco Simoncelli, who had passed away, and Hiroshi Aoyama, who was moving on to World Superbike racing.