Motociclismo.es has published a short interview with Alvaro which focuses on his impressions from the first preseason test in Sepang and his general feeling with the MotoGP bike.

How did these two days go for you?
Well, it was the first return back to work after a long break, so I dedicated the entire first day to become accustomed to the bike again and I think that went very well. I tested several things, but in general we focused on finding a base setup for me to be comfortable with the bike. Loris was the one to test a lot of new stuff, because he’s got so much more experience while for me everything is new and I don’t know whether things are better or worse. For me it’s been going better every time I was on the bike, but the only thing I can say is whether it goes better or worse for me, I can’t compare it with other things.

What do you find the most difficult?
A little bit of everything, but at this track what I’ve noticed more is that when you try to control the bike without the brakes, it is difficult to get it into the curve. It does not let me take the line I want which is a bit like in 250cc and 125cc where you wait a little and then close the line. Additionally, not being able to enter the corners well also affects me when getting out of them, but we are working on it step by step.

You are still working with the engine from last year. Does it worry you to start a little behind the rest?
A little bit. Loris tested some parts of the new engine and I am sure that they are working hard to keep the power that we had and combine it with better durability, so I have to trust Suzuki and they have assured us that for the next test we will have the new engine. We also tested a slightly smaller frame, because this year we need a bike for the small ones, not one like last year for Loris and Vermeulen which was higher.

Your plan is to go step by step, but with so little testing before the first race, you can’t sleep either, can you?
Yes, the truth is that for the Rookies this is probably the worst year and even though we had one extra test last year, that was during the winter with colder temperatures and the ones we have this year are widely spread with a lot of time between them. Therefore, when we return to Sepang it will be necessary for me to get a feeling for the bike again… But things are like they are and we have to find a good basis to be prepared for all circuits. I think that I’m improving at the right speed and I am only about two seconds slower than Valentino. What’s important is to have a good feeling with the bike and to know why it does this or that.

Have you used less traction control here? Because in the first tests you had a pretty restricted bike.
In Portugal they already took a little bit of it out and here I had it completely free. It’s a much wider track and you don’t notice it as much as in Valencia or Estoril, in fact there are a few points where it wouldn’t even make a difference if you did more of a wheelie.

Maybe in this sense the new engine loses something?
The ideal would be for it not to and we are working on that. But it will be difficult, because they used to have one engine per race and now they have to last three races.

What was it like to ride in the wet?
It was great, the bike has enough grip and when you open the gas a little it slides so much and it’s a lot of fun.

Interview translated by the crew of www.alvarobautista.co.uk & www.batifans.com