Again the conditions at the French circuit of Le Mans weren’t the best for the second free practice of the MotoGP riders, but fortunately the rain stayed away once more and the session got underway with considerable improvements for most riders.

Álvaro took almost a second off his fastest laptime from this morning and finished the session in a very respectable fourth position, 0.697 seconds behind Casey Stoner who was once again the fastest man on track and the only rider to break into the 1’33s, coming very close to Dani Pedrosa’s circuit record which was set last year.

Aside from the positive final result, Álvaro showed a very strong pace, close to his fastest laptime and always riding more or less on his own and being able to produce the consistent speed without help.

Weather forecasts are not favourable for the rest of the weekend, so the riders might have to deal with a wet or mixed track tomorrow and on race day.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’33.740
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’34.005 0.265 / 0.265
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’34.136 0.396 / 0.131
4 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’34.437 0.697 / 0.301
5 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’34.467 0.727 / 0.030
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’34.585 0.845 / 0.118
7 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’34.610 0.870 / 0.025
8 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’35.079 1.339 / 0.469
9 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’35.112 1.372 / 0.033
10 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’35.132 1.392 / 0.020
11 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’35.201 1.461 / 0.069
12 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’35.787 2.047 / 0.586
13 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’36.438 2.698 / 0.651
14 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’36.928 3.188 / 0.490
15 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’37.093 3.353 / 0.165
16 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’37.310 3.570 / 0.217
17 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’37.585 3.845 / 0.275
18 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’38.255 4.515 / 0.670
19 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’38.260 4.520 / 0.005
20 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’38.395 4.655 / 0.135
21 Chris VERMEULEN NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’39.383 5.643 / 0.988

The first practice for the MotoGP riders at Le Mans got underway in dry but threatening conditions, with big black clouds hanging over the track, low temperatures and some wind, but finally the rain held off for the entire session.

Álvaro made a good start to the session, taking big strides early on and placing himself as high up as second position behind a dominating Casey Stoner who took over the lead in the first laps and consistently put a gap of over half a second to about a second on the rest of the field.

Álvaro was relegated down the field to the bottom of the top ten for the second half of the session, steadily improving his laptime slightly, but with no chance to come near to Stoner’s scorching laptime and only one rider being able to even come within a second of it until Dani Pedrosa considerably closed the gap to his teammate.

After a long time spent in the garage, most riders went back on track only in the final 10 to 15 minutes. Álvaro went on to slightly improve his laptime, but not the position until the final ten minutes when he posted three consistently fast laps in a row, losing out in the final sector in the first two but finally getting it right and moving into 5th position with a laptime just over a second behind Stoner.

With many riders squeezing in one final quick lap, he was eventually relegated to 8th again, but with close gaps behind Stoner and a good pace which he managed to do on his own, it’s been another solid start to the weekend.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’34.321
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’34.908 0.587 / 0.587
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.065 0.744 / 0.157
4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.202 0.881 / 0.137
5 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’35.213 0.892 / 0.011
6 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.239 0.918 / 0.026
7 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.318 0.997 / 0.079
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’35.336 1.015 / 0.018
9 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’35.403 1.082 / 0.067
10 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’35.829 1.508 / 0.426
11 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’36.291 1.970 / 0.462
12 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’36.500 2.179 / 0.209
13 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’36.935 2.614 / 0.435
14 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’37.916 3.595 / 0.981
15 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’38.140 3.819 / 0.224
16 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’38.209 3.888 / 0.069
17 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’38.255 3.934 / 0.046
18 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’38.943 4.622 / 0.688
19 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’39.110 4.789 / 0.167
20 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’39.729 5.408 / 0.619
Chris VERMEULEN NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’41.398 7.077 / 1.669

After a positive display in the Grand Prix of Portugal two weeks ago Team San Carlo Honda Gresini heads for the Le Mans circuit in France this weekend looking to make further progress towards the front of the pack. Alvaro Bautista is hoping to improve his feeling with the Honda RC213V and join the likes of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow in their pursuit of the seemingly indomitable top trio of Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

Bautista so far has only one year’s experience in the MotoGP class at Le Mans, having missed the 2010 race after suffering multiple fractures and severe bruising (collarbone, shoulder and ribs) in a training accident just a week prior and further aggravating the injuries with a massive cold-tyre highsider during practice in France after coming to the Grand Prix still determined to compete despite his poor physical condition. Aside from the new circuits Silverstone and Aragon, Le Mans is the only track where he’s never been on the podium before, coming closest to it in his title year 2006 when he was leading the field with a big margin but a mechanical failure relegated him to fourth over the finish line. In his last year in the 250cc class he started from the pole position and also finished the race in fourth.

Alvaro Bautista “The weather at Estoril finally afforded us some dry track time and we were able to make some changes to the bike and get a good rhythm together before the race. At the start we were struggling for feeling with the front Bridgestone but gradually it improved. In the race I was struggling in T4, because the bike did not feel great in corner entry, so I was just focused on holding my position. Now we go to another circuit where the weather is always unpredictable, so we have to be ready to adapt. With the data we gathered in Portugal I think we can take another step forward and find a few important tenths to close the gap to the guys in front of us. I don’t really like this circuit, unfortunately. Le Mans has a lot of direction changes, short straights and the worst thing is the low grip levels and cool track temperatures. I have never finished on the podium here in the 125 or 250 class but hopefully we can have a good race this weekend and improve on the results from Estoril.”

Fausto Gresini “The next round takes us to Le Mans, a circuit that holds a lot of great memories for the team thanks to some unforgettable victories over the years. Last year we remember Marco Simoncelli having a great ride before the collision with Pedrosa, which caused all sorts of controversy. Hopefully this year we can pick up in a positive way and see Alvaro taking another step forward. He has been making constant progress lately and just needs a little more to be fighting with Dovizioso and Crutchlow. He is very close to gaining the confidence he needs with the bike to be more aggressive on the brakes and faster in mid-corner. There will be no shortage of effort to keep this positive run going.”

Source: Gresini Racing

Aside from simply buying a shirt or cap of your favourite rider at a MotoGP circuit to show your support, there are quite a few MotoGP fans who take it one step further, collecting original memorabilia of the racing stars. From helmets and leathers to boots, gloves and kneesliders, anything a rider uses during a race weekend is a potential collector’s item.

One of those avid collectors is Briton Steve Squires who got in contact with us before he travelled to the Portuguese Grand Prix last weekend to get Álvaro’s race-worn helmet and leathers signed by the man himself, further increasing their collector’s value.

Both items are from 2010, Álvaro’s first season in the MotoGP class, specifically from his very first MotoGP race at Qatar. A slightly over-motivated Álvaro had three crashes that weekend which sent sparks flying into the floodlit night of Losail. Two very similar crashes in qualifying and the race, sliding out in the last corner before the finish line, as well as a highsider in the warmup took their toll on Álvaro’s race equipment. You can clearly see the scuff marks on the right side on the back of his leathers as well as on the right arm, where he was sliding on the tarmac.

The helmet is also a very rare item since Álvaro changed his helmet brand from Suomy to Shoei for the third round at Le Mans and this is one of the few Suomy versions that were made for him, with the design – created by team partner Troy Lee Designs – slightly different from the Shoei version he wore for the rest of the season.

Meeting up with Álvaro at Estoril was made a little easier for Steve by Bati’s leathers sponsor Rev’it! who kindly helped out getting the memorabilia signed and also featured it on their Facebook page. Unsurprisingly, Steve confirmed Álvaro to be “a really nice guy” who was happy to sign both leathers and helmet for him and pose for a photo in the Gresini hospitality.

But aside from the Álvaro memorabilia, true to a collector’s calling, Steve has amassed a lot more items over the years. His collection contains leathers from legendary riders such as Troy Bayliss and Wayne Rainey as well as from the late Daijiro Kato. Added to that are various helmets from Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Max Biaggi, Sete Gibernau and more; gloves from Cal Crutchlow, Randy De Puniet and Manuel Poggiali as well as several different boots from riders like Marco Simoncelli, Toni Elias and Carlos Checa. In short: It’s already a very big collection, but Steve’s not done yet.

As Steve confesses, “collecting memorabilia is an addictive hobby” and just like every other collector he’s always looking to expand his collection. Getting the love for motorcycle racing passed on from his dad when he was still a kid, he started out as an autograph chaser, enjoying the personal encounters with his racing heroes.

His way to a serious memorabilia collection began with a race-worn Norick Abe helmet from 2000 which lead to a sizeable selection of race helmets until the 2006 championship-winning leathers of Superbike legend Troy Bayliss opened the door to various other collectable items.

Among his favourite items Steve counts the aforementioned leathers from Wayne Rainey, stemming from his title-winning year 1990, as well as the 2010 race-worn helmet of MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo, one of three Lorenzo helmets Steve owns.

If you want to get in touch with Steve to chat about collecting MotoGP memorabilia or possibly have some items he might be interested in, you can check out his website motogpmemorabilia.co.uk where you can also find a lot more rare and original items on display.

Photos: Steve Squires / Screenshot Qatar Qualifying 2010