Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista just missed out on 10th place at the Portuguese Grand Prix today as the rain that had plagued the race weekend finally relented to allow a dry race.

Starting from 14th on the grid, Bautista got a good start and by lap five he had moved up in 10th position. As the race wore on he got involved in a battle with Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama, which saw the three swap places regularly. Bautista fought to the line, but was just unable to get past Barbera in the closing metres and finished a mere 0.187 seconds behind his countryman to claim 11th position.

Today’s weather was a marked contrast from what had previously been experienced at the Portuguese circuit as the heavy rain that had caused the cancellation of yesterdays qualifying gave way to windy, but sunny conditions. World title holder Jorge Lorenzo produced a champion’s performance in front of a crowd of just over 40,000 to win the race by over eight seconds from his nearest rival.

Rizla Suzuki will now travel directly to Valencia in Spain for the final round of the season next weekend, with both riders hoping to put today’s difficult race firmly behind them and finish the season on a positive note.

Álvaro Bautista: “I feel very disappointed because I just didn’t expect this result here. I know the weekend has been very strange, because we only rode in dry conditions in the race, but before I came here I thought we would have a good performance. When I started the race I quickly realised I couldn’t get a good rhythm because I didn’t seem to have much grip in the front or rear tyres and on the straights I also had a problem with the bike being very unstable – I even had to close the throttle sometimes because I couldn’t control the bike properly. I fought for a position in the top-10, but I also had a bit of a problem with braking hard and that made it very difficult to overtake other riders. I hope that next week we can finish the season with a good result to make up for today’s disappointment.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Going straight into the race with no dry practice at all was always going to throw up some interesting results, but unfortunately we definitely needed some dry running to get the bike working properly. The biggest problem for both riders today was stability, which was not helped by the strong cross winds down the main straight, but our competitors didn’t seem to have the same trouble at all. Álvaro fought hard – as always – but we couldn’t give him a good enough tool for the job today and we’ll be hoping that we can improve things in Valencia and he can finish his season as strongly as his potential has shown in the last few races.

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

The sun came out for a little bit this morning, allowing the warm up session for the MotoGP riders to be held in the best weather conditions so far this weekend. Still they were far from perfect as the track was full wet and blustering wind made things difficult for the riders. At least the rain stopped for an extended period of time, but this makes the predictions for today’s race again very difficult.

The laptimes of the warmup show some big gaps throughout the field, but depending on the weather conditions for the race, all the wet sessions so far could mean absolutely nothing and every rider has to start from scratch for the race.

Results WUP

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’48.363
2 Casey STONER Ducati Team 1’48.694 0.331 / 0.331
3 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’49.221 0.858 / 0.527
4 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’49.244 0.881 / 0.023
5 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’49.779 1.416 / 0.535
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’49.843 1.480 / 0.064
7 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’50.325 1.962 / 0.482
8 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’50.430 2.067 / 0.105
9 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’50.533 2.170 / 0.103
10 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 1’51.116 2.753 / 0.583
11 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’51.351 2.988 / 0.235
12 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’51.387 3.024 / 0.036
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’52.382 4.019 / 0.995
14 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’53.165 4.802 / 0.783
15 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’53.248 4.885 / 0.083
16 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’53.362 4.999 / 0.114
17 Carlos CHECA Pramac Racing Team 1’53.511 5.148 / 0.149

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista will start tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix from 13th and 14th positions on the grid respectively after today’s qualifying session was washed out.

Capirossi (1’51.518, 25 laps) and Bautista (1’52.734, 23 laps) were both able to get an hour of practice this morning – despite the rain that had previously fallen – and the pair improved their lap-times from yesterday to leave them in 10th and 12th places on the timesheets. Both riders were looking to improve further in this afternoon’s qualifying session, but a huge storm hit the Estoril area around lunch-time and with no sign of the rain abating as the day progressed, the race officials had no option but to cancel all of this afternoon’s proceedings. This left both riders frustrated and disappointed, as the grid positions for tomorrow’s race had to be decided by the combined times from the two practice sessions that have managed to go ahead so far this weekend. World Champion Jorge Lorenzo will start tomorrow’s race from pole position.

Rizla Suzuki will be hoping for better conditions in tomorrow’s warm-up session so Capirossi and Bautista can make some improvements to their bikes if it is a wet race, but with the forecast showing drier weather for Sunday, they will need to work hard to get a dry set-up to prepare for the 28-lap race that gets underway at 13.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista: “I am disappointed, but at least this morning we were able to try a different setting in the bike and it felt much better than yesterday. We had another improvement for this afternoon, but we could not try that. Depending on the weather tomorrow we will continue with the wet weather settings and try to make some improvements for those conditions during the warm-up. If it is dry it will be new for everybody so it will be interesting to see who is faster in the drier conditions and who can adapt the quickest. I will be pushing really hard for a good result, I just hope I can make a good start and fight my way through.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

The abysmal weather conditions at the Estoril circuit continued today and got even worse throughout the day, ultimately leading to the cancellation of all qualifying sessions. Without qualification, the starting grid positions are determined by the combined practice times. For MotoGP that means only FP2 and FP3 this morning since the first practice yesterday was also a complete washout with only Hiroshi Aoyama actually recording a laptime.

Unfortunately the cancellation of qualifying means that Alvaro will only start from 14th position on the grid tomorrow. With all sessions so far taking place in wet conditions, many riders and teams will probably even hope for wet weather tomorrow as well to keep their setups. However, forecasts predict dry races tomorrow, so it should definitely be an interesting day of racing.

Combined practice times:

Pos Rider Team Time Gap
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m48.853s
2. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m49.435s + 0.582s
3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m50.007s + 1.154s
4. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m50.081s + 1.228s
5. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m50.313s + 1.460s
6. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m50.500s + 1.647s
7. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m50.787s + 1.934s
8. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m50.824s + 1.971s
9. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m51.250s + 2.397s
10. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m51.518s + 2.665s
11. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m51.916s + 3.063s
12. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m52.734s + 3.881s
13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m53.018s + 4.165s
14. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m53.317s + 4.464s
15. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m53.537s + 4.684s
16. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1m53.933s + 5.080s
17. Carlos Checa Pramac Ducati 1m54.073s + 5.220s

Álvaro Bautista (P16, 1’54.410, 15 laps) had a big crash in the wet conditions towards the end of the session. He lost grip from the rear of his GSV-R on a right-hand bend and high-sided quite dramatically. Bautista was thrown across the track, but fortunately he was able to walk away uninjured from the accident.

Today should have seen two practice sessions, but torrential rain this morning left standing water on the track and made it impossible for riders to attempt to tackle the 4,182m circuit. This afternoon saw an improvement in the weather as the rain ceased and the sun managed to make an appearance towards the end of the session. The fastest time of the day was set by new World Champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Rizla Suzuki will have one more free practice session tomorrow morning, followed by qualifying in the afternoon – both of which have been increased to an hour to compensate for the lost time this morning. Sunday’s race is the penultimate event of the season and it gets underway at 13.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista: “Today has been a strange day because it was impossible to ride this morning due to so much water on the track – it would have made it very dangerous out there. This afternoon it was still very wet, but at least we were able to go out. During the session I improved my time step-by-step, but I felt that the bike didn’t quite have enough grip as I entered the corners. I tried to push a bit harder, but the grip stayed the same so I pushed a little bit more each lap and at the end I lost the rear and could do nothing to stop the crash. The important thing is that I am ok and we will see tomorrow if we can improve this problem with grip, because it is making it difficult to go fast.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Horrendous weather conditions with rain coming sideways, strong wind and thunderstorms made the first practice session a mission impossible for the MotoGP riders.
Only three riders actually went out of track with Hiroshi Aoyama being the only rider of the field to do a whole lap and posting a laptime, making him the first and only rider in the final FP1 standings.

Alvaro did put his rainsuit on, but with deep puddles and standing water on the track, caution was the biggest concern for most of the riders and they stayed in their boxes.

Álvaro Bautista heads to Portugal on the back of three strong racing performances during the recent Pacific Grands Prix. He is in a determined mood ahead of what he believes to be another ‘home’ Grand Prix, at a racetrack where he has previous knowledge of riding a MotoGP machine – following last year’s November ‘Rookie’ test – and the added confidence from winning at the Estoril circuit on three of his previous four visits.

The 4,182m Automotodrom Fernanda Pires da Silva circuit at Alcabideche near Estoril has ultra-fast corners and an almost kilometre-long straight, plus one of the slowest sections of the season making for a very contrasting layout. Situated on a rocky plateau high above the towns of Estoril and Cascais, just to the west of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, the circuit is only a few kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean and high-winds whipped up off the sea are a problem that riders have to contend with.

Rizla Suzuki takes to the track on Friday morning for the first practice session, as MotoGP again returns to four practice sessions in a weekend – instead of the usual three. The second and third sessions will take place on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning respectively, with qualifying taking place on Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s 26-lap race is the penultimate Grand Prix of the 2010 season with the riders taking to the grid at the earlier time of 13.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista: “I really like it at Estoril, I have had lots of success there and it is a track I like to race at – it is as close to my home town as some of the Spanish tracks so it feels like a ‘home’ GP to me, especially because I know many of my family, friends and fans will be there to support me. I went there with the GSV-R last year so I will have a bit of an idea of the reference points on a MotoGP bike, similar to what I had at Sepang, so hopefully we can be as competitive right from the start in Portugal as we were there. We had a couple of problems at Phillip Island and they have all now been sorted and won’t happen again, so we will be able to go right from the start and try to get back into that top-six, where I know we are capable of being.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

In the latest Suzuki Racing Blog, Rizla Suzuki’s parts and logistics manager Russel Jordan gives us a look behind the scenes of getting all the team’s equipment from one place to another in time and in one piece. Albeit sometimes with a few dents.

“I’m just getting ready to head out of Australia and back to the UK after what has been a hectic trio of races. I’m actually quite glad to see the back of the last three weeks because from a logistics point-of-view it can be a real headache getting everything to the right place at the right time.

“The three-week Pacific tour certainly presents lots of challenges, because the armchair fan, and for that matter the guys watching at the circuit, only get to see the garage when we are all built up and ready to go out on track; so they probably don’t realise what goes into making that happen.

“When we go on a fly-away – which is a race outside Europe – we don’t have the luxury of our two trucks with their trailer units that carry all the bikes, the equipment, the spares and then also double as the teams’ offices when we have unloaded. What we have to do is box all the stuff we need for the race – and in this case it was three races – into over 50 flight-crates of various sizes to have them shipped to the next destination. We carry just over 15,000kgs of equipment with us to make the team function and have everything to hand. Not only do we have the four bikes (two for each rider), but we also have enough spare parts to probably build about four more GSV-Rs as well as all the tools, wheels, pit-box walls, lighting gantry and everything else that goes into making a MotoGP team function – including the tea and coffee making facilities!

“One of the main things is making sure that the boxes are all labelled correctly, with the circuit address and pit-box all properly addressed on each one – we can’t have a million Euros worth of Suzuki GSV-R delivered to the wrong address because we put Japan on the label instead of Malaysia! Once we have all the boxes packed and ready to go they are collected from wherever we are and join the rest of the MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc freight to head off to the next destination. All of it gets shipped together on three cargo Jumbo Jets and is then delivered to the next circuit to await the crew’s arrival to begin work.

“To give an idea of what this involves, we finished the race in Malaysia and had to make the bikes ready for transportation and pack down the garage, which took about four hours. The flight-cases were then collected and flown to Australia before being delivered to Phillip Island on Wednesday morning, just as the boys arrived at the circuit. The garage was then re-built that morning and they started work on all the bikes in preparation for the weekend and this continued into Thursday so that the GSV-Rs are ready for Alvaro and Loris to go out on track on Friday. We then had the race weekend before we started the progress of breaking down again to send the freight back to Europe for the next race.

“I must admit that it is always a relief to arrive a circuit and find all the boxes there and waiting for us; we’ve had a couple of times when it has arrived late – and with a few extra dents in it – but as yet we haven’t lost anything, which is a tribute to the job the crew does and the shipping companies do to make sure it all gets to the right place at the right time.”

Source: Suzuki Racing Blog