Since Alvaro will not continue with the Aspar Team next season, he did the best he could today in Valencia to give them an appropriate farewell present with another podium finish. And not only that. If you were wondering about Alvaro’s helmet design today, it is a Jorge Martinez replica and Alvaro was paying tribute to the man who he had an excellent professional and personal relationship with over the last four seasons and who played a pivotal role in Alvaro’s quest to become the 125cc world champion in 2006 and giving him the possibility to fight for the 250cc title the last two years.
Now this exceptional relation will come to an end, but as Jorge and Alvaro both affirmed, their friendship will still go on.

Gracias, Jorge. Gracias, Alvaro.

Update: Here’s another picture of the helmet’s backside with the signature.

The Gran Premio de la Comunidad Valenciana is set to bring the curtain down on another campaign this weekend, as the MotoGP paddock unpacks and prepares to race for the final time in 2009. After a transcontinental trek to Australia and Malaysia, the series returns to European soil for the sixteenth and final round of a 250cc World Championship that is still to be decided. Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli will go head to head for the title on Sunday, with the Spanish riders also looking to celebrate with victory in their home round.
 
With a disappointing weekend in Malaysia now behind Alvaro heads to Valencia determined to score good results for the team in his home race. Although Bati’s title aspirations ended in a crash at Sepang but his hunger for victory is still as fierce as ever and the Spaniard is looking for a repeat of his performance in the most recent race on Spanish soil, having won at Montmeló in June. It is a final appearance in the intermediate class for the former 125cc World Champion, who moves up to MotoGP next year.

Alvaro Bautista:
“I would have liked to be going to Valencia in different circumstances this weekend but luck hasn’t been on our side for the last three races. The championship is over for me but this is my last race in the 250 class and I want to enjoy it in front of my home fans. I’ll go out there and give it everything to fight for the win. We have missed out on our main objective so now I just want to enjoy the weekend and sign off from the class in style. It is important to me to end this phase of my career with a win. Cheste holds few secrets for me because I have done so many laps there and it is one of my favourite circuits. There are no excuses and I will be giving it everything from Friday.”

They’re asking you for your fave riders over at MotoGP Hotties… Go vote for Alvaro and make sure you get loads more pictures of him online. The vote won’t be open forever so go there now…
The page to vote on is here… – and of course it’s a great chance to shout out for your other favourite riders too. MotoGP Hotties doesn’t only cover MotoGP, but also WSBK, BSB, AMA, Supersport and Superstock – basically pretty much anything that involves two wheels and cute guys.

So go vote for Bati, and bookmark MotoGPHotties.com

A day of mixed weather at Phillip Island dealt its worst hand to the 250cc class, with free practice starting on a damp track this morning and a dry afternoon qualifying interrupted by a brief shower.
 
It was not a good session for Álvaro Bautista, who has struggled all weekend to find a set-up for his Aprilia. The Spaniard experimented with a variety of front and rear solutions and tyre compounds today as he searched for more stability but he was unable to get completely comfortable and could manage no higher than tenth. Álvaro will continue to work hard in tomorrow morning’s warm-up session as he plots a comeback from the third row of the grid.

10th Álvaro Bautista 1.34.588 (20 laps):
“This obviously isn’t the result I was hoping for. We had some problems with the rear of the bike yesterday and this morning it was the same story. In the afternoon it looked like we’d improved it a little but I’m still not comfortable. We tried a hard front tyre but it didn’t work as we’d hoped. It makes the bike very stable in the direction changes but we need to adapt the chassis to it and make the whole thing run sweeter. We can’t throw the towel in yet – we have to keep working and do everything we can to improve and make sure we’re in a position to try and fight back in the race tomorrow.”

Pos | Nº | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Laps | km/h
1 40 Héctor Barberá Aprilia 1’34.338 17 169.738
2 35 Raffaele De Rosa Honda 1’34.911 0.573 24 168.713
3 16 Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1’34.927 0.589 24 168.685
4 63 Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 1’35.013 0.675 23 168.532
5 55 Hector Faubel Honda 1’35.085 0.747 25 168.405
6 75 Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1’35.119 0.781 23 168.344
7 14 R.Wilairot Honda 1’35.132 0.794 24 168.321
8 6 Alex Debon Aprilia 1’35.150 0.812 21 168.290
9 17 Karel Abraham Aprilia 1’35.219 0.881 27 168.168
10 58 Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1’35.318 0.980 25 167.993
11 4 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1’35.535 1.197 29 167.611
12 19 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1’35.759 1.421 26 167.219
13 52 Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1’35.849 1.511 25 167.062
14 12 Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1’36.002 1.664 30 166.796
15 73 Shuhei Aoyama Honda 1’36.107 1.769 27 166.614
16 25 Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1’36.220 1.882 24 166.418
17 15 R.Locatelli Gilera 1’36.884 2.546 26 165.278
18 11 Balázs Németh Aprilia 1’37.791 3.453 27 163.745
19 10 Imre Toth Aprilia 1’38.222 3.884 25 163.026
20 7 Axel Pons Aprilia 1’38.609 4.271 29 162.386
21 53 Valentin Debise Honda 1’38.817 4.479 25 162.044
22 48 Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1’38.971 4.633 24 161.792
23 56 Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 1’39.002 4.664 19 161.742
24 8 Bastien Chesaux Aprilia 1’39.778 5.440 22 160.484

CLASSIFIED:

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 44m04.298s
2. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia + 5.317s
3. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 5.317s
4. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 12.024s
5. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 14.349s
6. R.Wilairot Honda + 18.256s
7. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 27.631s
8. Mattia Pasini Aprilia + 34.667s
9. Alex Debon Aprilia + 45.410s
10. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 45.891s
11. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 46.204s
12. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 57.641s
13. Valentin Debise Honda +1m21.309s
14. Alex Baldolini Aprilia +1m35.277s
15. Axel Pons Aprilia + 1 lap
16. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia + 1 lap
17. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia + 1 lap
18. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
19. C.Moretti Aprilia + 2 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider | Bike | Laps
Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 24
Shoya Tomizawa Honda 12
R.Locatelli Gilera 9
Raffaele De Rosa Honda 7
Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 4
Hector Faubel Honda 4

FASTEST LAP: Simoncelli, 1m40.863s on lap 17

Friday 2 October

12.40 – 13.40              125cc Free Practice 1
13.55 – 14.55              MotoGP Free Practice 1
15.10 – 16.10              250cc Practice 1

………………………………………………………………….
 

Saturday 3 October

09.00 – 09.40              125cc Free Practice 2
09.55 – 10.55              MotoGP Free Practice 2
11.10 – 12.10              250cc Free Practice 2
13.00 – 13.40              125cc Qualifying
13.55 – 14.55              MotoGP Qualifying
15.10 – 15.55              250cc Qualifying

………………………………………………………………….
 

Sunday 4 October

09.00 – 09.20              250cc Warm Up
09.30 – 09.50              MotoGP Warm Up
10.00 – 10.20              125cc Warm Up
 
11.15                           250cc RACE (26 laps)
13.00                           MotoGP RACE (28 laps)
14.00                           125cc RACE (23 laps)

As far as the statisticians are concerned, the favourite for victory at Estoril is Mapfre rider Álvaro Bautista, who has taken victory at this circuit for the last three years – in the 250cc class in 2008 and 2007 and in the 125cc class in 2006. Álvaro is also on a run of five straight podiums, form that has consolidated second place in the current standings and brought him to within thirteen points of the leader, Hiroshi Aoyama. The Mapfre man pulled back three precious points at the last round in San Marino and he is hoping that his love affair with Estoril continues with a fourth straight win that would breathe even more life into a title scrap that looks certain to go all the way to the wire at Valencia. Mike Di Meglio is also looking to be amongst the pacesetters this weekend, the Mapfre team rookie travelling to Portugal on the back of positive results in the past two rounds and keen to continue improving after the month-long break. Estoril is one of the few circuits Mike had the opportunity to ride at in preseason, gathering crucial set-up data that will give him a solid base to start from this weekend.

Álvaro Bautista:
“Estoril isn’t one of my favourite circuits but I have won there for the last three years so you could say it is our talisman track. Hopefully luck is on our side again this year so that we can fight for the victory once more. I’ve done a bit of everything over the last three weeks, mainly training hard to make sure I’m fit and ready for this final sprint to the end of the season. I had a week off relaxing in Mallorca and it was nice to get a total break from racing. It has been a positive thing to have a month off to focus on these last four races and get over all the fuss that came on the back of the announcement about my future. It has also been good to have a month of training and I think I’m in the right shape to finish the season at full power. Estoril is a circuit with a lot of hard braking, where you need good acceleration to get out of the corners well, and in some areas it will favour the Honda whilst in others – like the long straight – it will be better for the Aprilia. It will be difficult to win but that won’t stop us from trying.”