Which of Alvaro’s helmets do you like best?
Read through our full history of them here in our special feature article, look through the choices here and vote in the poll at the bottom of the page…

Have you ever wondered about Alvaro’s helmets and their designs? We give you an overview of all the personally designed helmets Alvaro’s been using in his career so far.
And once you’ve found out all about them, you can VOTE for your favourite in our exclusive poll here…

Alvaro started his world championship career as a wildcard in 2002 with the helmet sponsor NZI. It’s a relatively small Spanish company that isn’t too well-known outside the Iberian Peninsula, but they sponsored a lot of Spanish racing stars in the past and Alvaro stayed with them for six seasons.

His first personal NZI helmet in 2002 was designed to match his Atletico Madrid livery back then and it made a great looking complete package. Alvaro wore that helmet for all races in the Spanish Championship that year and his wildcard entries in Catalunya and Jerez. His mascot at the time was already a devil, albeit not looking much like the mascot he has nowadays. He wore a differently designed helmet for his wildcard at the Valencian GP which was most likely a regular design of NZI’s product line that year.

2003 was Bati’s first full season in the 125cc world championship and his NZI Vitesse helmet design was a pretty simple one at that time. But the silver base design with black, red and blue elements, topped off with stickers of his name, number and mascot already bore some resemblance to his design in the following years. It’s interesting to note that for the first two races of the 2003 season Alvaro’s mascot was not a devil but instead the head of a bull with fire coming out of its nostrils. The inaugural Spanish championship round in Catalunya was the first time we saw the fun devil mascot that Alvaro still has today.

In 2004 Bati wore the same helmet as in 2003 for the first race in South Africa and in various practice sessions throughout the year, but at the Jerez GP he unveiled the trademark helmet design which should stay with him until the end of his championship winning season in 2006. Although the design stayed the same (bar a few very minor variations of colours and shapes) the helmet was further developed by NZI and Alvaro promoted the NZI Vitesse and NZI Razer II with this design during the years.

There were only two different designs during that time. The first was a special one-off helmet for the Valencian GP 2004 which – along with Alvaro’s leathers – had a slightly different colour scheme to represent the Spanish flag. And Alvaro’s championship helmet which he wore during the Japanese GP in 2006 and during the practice sessions of the following Portuguese and Valencian GP was a modified version of his normal design with a large number 1 on each side.

With his move to the 250cc class in 2007 Alvaro also changed his helmet design completely. His new NZI Spyder III helmet, designed by the Spanish company Zero Racing, now matched his blue and white livery much better. A blue and silver base colour with dominant red details and tribal features made the perfect addition to the rest of his safety gear. An interesting detail of the first helmets he wore that year are the colours of the Spanish flag incorporated on top of the helmet. However, these were not used in all GPs that year and the replicas sold by NZI do not include the Spanish flag either.

2008 saw not only a colour change for the Aspar Team, but also a change of helmet sponsor for Alvaro as he switched to Suomy. His first personalised design of the Suomy Spec 1R, created by Bargy Design, wasn’t used for long though. The very bold blue, red and white design tries to play with Alvaro’s devil mascot and features two stylised devil heads on the back and the top of the helmet. The helmets used by Alvaro in the races also have his name embedded in the design on the back. However, due to a company policy of Suomy this is not a feature of the replicas sold to the public. Suomy replicas in general do not include the personal numbers or names of the riders, these are only made specifically for their sponsored riders.

Already in Mugello, the 6th Grand Prix of the 2008 season, Alvaro began to wear his new 2009 design regularly. Considering his red & white livery since the start of 2008, the mostly red and silver 2009 Spec 1R design fit much better in the combination and he kept the helmet all throughout last year as well. Just like with the 2008 helmet the race version of the 2009 helmet also has a stylised “Bautista” on the backside which is not included in the replicas sold by Suomy. This design and all special one-off helmets during the 2008 and 2009 season were created by the Italian company Starline Designers.

Special designs 2008 & 2009
Alvaro wore different helmets on three occasions in 2009 – Catalunya, Misano and Valencia – and one time in 2008 for the Jerez GP

His unique helmet design for Catalunya showed comic characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Pansa on the back and a grim-looking windmill on top of the helmet. Alvaro’s hometown Talavera de la Reina lies in Castilla La-Mancha where the story of the book Don Quixote takes place which is a big part of La Mancha’s culture. Bati said about the design: “It is a design that I like a lot, it’s very original. Don Quixote is from La Mancha, like me, and we say that he was a bit of a crazy hero, a knight who went out to fight on his horse. He fought against wind mills, I fight against other riders.”

At the San Marino GP 2009 Alvaro wore a helmet during the race which appears to be a regular design of Suomy’s 2010 product range and is called “Wall Street”.

The very simple design of Alvaro’s helmet at the Valencian GP 2009 was a tribute to his team manager and good friend Jorge Martinez Aspar. Since it was already clear by the time that Alvaro would not continue his career with the Aspar Team, he wanted to honour the man who helped him become 125cc world champion in 2006 and fight for the 250cc crown multiple times. The helmet is a replica of the design Aspar wore during his active racing career and features a personal dedication from Alvaro to Jorge and his entire team.

The helmet design Alvaro presented at the Jerez GP 2008 featured a red and yellow Spanish colour combination with two big “B”s for Bautista on the side of the helmet and his mascot on the back. Unfortunately this special design did not bring him any luck as he had an engine seizure during the race which cost him the win.

The future

Bati will stay with helmet sponsor Suomy for the 2010 season, his first one in the MotoGP class. His newest design which we saw for the first time at the Sepang test earlier this month looks similar to the Jerez 2008 helmet in its pattern idea with the two “B”s on the sides, but its colour scheme is much brighter, featuring the Rizla Suzuki baby blue mixed with very colourful pink and yellow elements. Alvaro’s newest helmet design is again created by Bargy Designs.

12,15 local time saw the final 250cc race not only of the 2009 season, but ever in the World Championship. The title was at stake, but also the bragging rights of ending the series’ run and putting oneself in the history books as the final winner. Héctor Barberá took a popular home win, although the fight was amongst the frontrunners with everything to play for. The title went to Hiroshi Aoyama despite not placing on the podium courtesy of a crash for Marco Simoncelli. Barberá and Álvaro Bautista made it a Spanish one-two, adding to Julián Simón’s win in 125cc and Dani Pedrosa’s in MotoGP.

Mapfre rider Álvaro Bautista was keen to not let down the fans gathered at his final home race in the support classes, especially with it being the last ride for 250cc racing machinery. The Spaniard was ninth on the grid after a tough qualifying session, but was confident in having a good race. He moved his way up the field progressively, taking third place n the fifth lap, before looking out for victory. Problems with the rear end f his Aprilia made things complicated, but Bautista was able to combat adversity sufficiently to claim second place as he crossed the 250cc finish line for the final time. Second in Jerez and the winner in Barcelona, Bautista completed a trilogy of home podium finishes with this latest result. He leaves the class behind with the satisfaction of having contested a memorable season.

2nd Álvaro Bautista: “I would have liked to have finished the year with a win but, bearing in mind the conditions that we were facing today, second is not a bad result. The wind was taking me off-track constantly, making it difficult to stick to my braking points. Yesterday we had some problems in the practice sessions, and this morning we went back to a setting that I preferred. In the warm up we were faster than we were on Saturday, so I knew that I could be up at the front. The only doubt that I had was whether the rear tyre would last the whole race. It may have gone off slightly ahead of time, and it was difficult to keep up with the guys ahead of me until the halfway point of the race. When I opened the throttle the bike started to slide. Second is nothing to be ashamed of, but obviously I would have been happier with a victory. I have spent a wonderful part of my life in the Aspar team, in which almost every moment has been good for me.”

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.

Portugal, Australia, Malaysia or Valencia: if everything goes to plan it is merely a matter of time before Jorge Martínez “Aspar” celebrates 125cc World Championship glory once again. As if that weren’t enough, his team is also still in with a shot of the 250cc title at the end of what has been little short of a dream season.
His riders have started out as contenders for victory at every round on a globetrotting journey of success, whilst at the end of the season he can look forward to taking delivery of a brand new Ducati as he prepares his assault on the MotoGP category with a Valencian rider in the saddle. The multiple-World Champion has every reason to be in high spirits at the culmination of what promises to be the best season yet since the birth of the Aspar Team.

The next Moto2 tests are just around the corner yet it seems as though everything is still very much at an embryonic stage.
It’s a new project and as such it involves a lot of changes. I’m curious to see how many bikes from different projects will be on track: Aprilia, Moriwaki, Queroseno, Sutter, Bimota, etc. I think there is still plenty of time, basically because the new rules allow us to test in December.

What does your experience tell you to expect from Moto2?
I think it is going to be very equal and there won’t be much difference between the top bikes running at the front. Obviously there could be the odd project that doesn’t meet expectations but not many. I’m sure the more established teams will use their experience to make the difference, in particular the riders. But with so much parity in terms of the machinery and also the chassis, the most important factor in deciding the lap time will be the rider.

‘Third time lucky!’ Finally it looks like your MotoGP dream will become a reality…
It looks like it! We’re finally going to be in MotoGP and I’m already looking forward to seeing the bike on track after the final Grand Prix of the season at Valencia.

What will having a presence in MotoGP do for the Aspar Team?
Lots of things. I think that merely competing in MotoGP gives you an air of credibility and strength. It is a way of offering your sponsors direct contact with international brands and with the world of motorcycling. For us and for our riders it is a stairway to the very top.

Will running the largest private structure in the paddock cause you to lose sleep?
It is obviously not easy to manage such a big team and there is a lot of work to be done. On more than one occasion I’ve thought about what an uphill battle it will be to put together a team of engineers, to find such a big budget. there are a lot of things to do. It won’t be easy to have such a big structure in all three categories and we will have to work hard.

Harder than ever?
To be honest my life is very fulfilling in terms of work. As my father used to say: “work and you will want for nothing.” The whole team, including myself, never stops for a minute and I feel happy to see that the sacrifice and consistency of this great team makes our structure bigger and more competitive year upon year.

Is having such loyal staff the key to achieving everything that you refer to?
There is no doubt that if I didn’t have such comprehensive technical and human support it would be impossible to progress. Anybody can set themselves big targets or put together projects that are successful for a short amount of time, but to be successful over a long period requires a great team of people working together – without that it would be absolutely impossible to be working on the amount of things that we are doing now.

Is the icing on the cake the fact that you will have a Valencian rider in MotoGP?
As a Valencian, having a rider from the same soil in my team is fundamental. If on top of that he happens to be a great rider, as is the case with Héctor, so much the better. I hope and wish for our project with him in MotoGP to be a long term one.

Was Simón’s good form to be expected after what we saw in preseason?
The season doesn’t always pan out the same way as preseason. Sometimes you start out the strongest and then other riders and teams catch up, or make more progress than you. Julián has been incredibly solid from day one and I think the way he reprogrammed himself was very impressive. He started out at a higher level than everybody else and I’m sure he went into the season thinking that he could win every race, although he has gradually learnt to make sacrifices and take second place or even fourth where necessary – maybe his attitude changed after his mistake at Jerez. As a team we’re really happy with him because he is developing into a very complete rider.

Do you see him as the World Champion already, as the rest of the paddock seems to do?
He has shown a resounding level of superiority in the 125 class this year and he has been a step above everybody else. If nothing strange happens, because you can’t take anything for granted in racing, I think the World Championship title is in his hands.

It looks like a more difficult task for Bautista but is it an impossible one?
I’m confident that Álvaro will slam his fist on the table, start to get angry with himself and go on the attack in a more aggressive way. I have to admit that at some races I was the first person to tell him to be prudent and to work out who his main rival was going to be, and to be conservative if necessary. Now the time has come to wake up and take another step forward. Luckily at Misano we started to see that side of Álvaro Bautista.

How do you reflect on the season for your other 125cc riders?
Gadea made an okay start, recovered and was sensational in the middle part of the season. Over the last three races he hasn’t had much luck but I think that he has improved a lot on past seasons because he has worked out how to turn his situation around, recover and do well. It is a similar story for Smith – he has been very fast at certain circuits but not at others. This is probably the first time they have been fighting to win at every circuit and that is not easy for a rider to take on board.

How about Mike?
He made a fantastic start to the season but then crashed in Japan, had problems with his arm at Jerez and that set him back for a while. It was a shame because a series of things have happened that have prevented him from exploding like we expected. Luckily he is feeling better and better on the bike, he is getting faster and he is more complete as a rider. Hopefully all our riders can finish the season near the top.

Can you give us an insight into the riding style of each of your riders?
Julián is very aggressive and he is very good on the brakes. You could say that he likes to feel the front end of the bike and his riding position is probably more suited to a bigger category than 125. Smith lets the bike run a lot more, he’s smoother and he likes to have high corner speed – he doesn’t brake as much as Julián. Gadea is possibly the most aggressive out of the three and the one who moves around most on the bike, which is an aspect I think he needs to work on improving. Álvaro is very smooth, he works extremely hard and he is very consistent in practice. Maybe he’s missing a little aggression. Mike is improving a lot and he has a position on the bike that I like a lot because he loads the front, which is a good way to control the bike.

Journalists and fans alike were expecting an early announcement this weekend about Alvaro’s future and it looked much like the Suzuki confirmation was inevitable.
However, at the moment it seems like we all have to wait a little longer for an official statement on Alvaro’s move to MotoGP.

Jorge Martinez has announced before the weekend that he would like to confirm his rider for the Aspar Ducati either on Thursday or on Friday morning. Since it’s now already past that, it might be a sign for the decision not being as secure at the moment as many journalists make them out to be. Alvaro’s management did not comment on the matter and denied that any signings can already be announced.

Asked about it on Thursday, Alvaro himself gave the following statement:

“The same people who are saying that already it is all done, extend the decision in the end. There is no foundation on which these reports are based; things are like in the previous race and everything that has been said is just assumptions. I have thought about it these days, because it is a very important decision in my career and it is necessary to have it very clear. I have circled my decision and we are close, but at the moment I am going to focus on the race, it is Thursday and this is what matters now. Afterwards there could be some news, but after, not before or during. At the moment it is put on hold. I have thought well about the offers we have and more or less we have found a way. When we finish the weekend we will take this subject up again and we will see if we can decide”

A big tip-off however might already come before that. It is strongly rumoured that Hector Barbera has already signed a one-year contract with the new Aspar Ducati team and there might still be an announcement on that later today. If this proves to be true, then this would almost equal a confirmation for Alvaro to sign with Suzuki.

We will keep you updated.

Update: Hector Barbera today commented on the matter, saying that nothing is fixed yet and that he wants to focus on the race this weekend. So it seems like we’ll definitely have to wait until after the race on Sunday.

MotoGPMatters reports on the question of whether Alvaro will ride with Aspar in MotoGP next season as coming to a head this weekend at Brno, citing stories from the likes of Marca and GPOne that suggest Bati signed a pre-contract of some kind with Suzuki in the middle of 2008, and that a ride on the vacant Ducati seat in Aspar’s new MotoGP team is by no means a certainty.

Says David Emmett:
Aspar has a problem. Alvaro Bautista has already signed a pre-contract with Suzuki last summer, according to the reports, and is not inclined to pay the penalty which breaking that commitment would involve. As a result, Bautista is increasingly leaning towards finalizing a deal with Suzuki to ride for the Rizla squad for 2010. His choice is also influenced by the fact that he will be able to go straight to a factory team, Suzuki having received a dispensation from the rookie rule which forces new entrants to sign with satellite squads.
Up against this, Aspar can offer a contract directly with Ducati, but riding in the Aspar team. Bautista would be assured of strong support from Ducati Corse, and the option of moving up to the factory squad should his results be good enough. Of course, with so many riders struggling to tame the Desmosedici, Bautista may not want to risk that option, and the Spaniard has in the past flat out refused to ride the Ducati.

The various reports suggest that there will be emergency meetings in the Brno paddock with Aspar and Alvaro’s management to try and nail the matter – and that whatever the outcome, Jorge Martinez will name his rider this weeked, probably on Thursday or Friday.

Original source: MotoGPMatters

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the Dutch TT of 1984, when Jorge Martínez “Aspar” took on the role of team manager Derbi but still showed his qualities as a rider by taking his first ever victory in the 80cc class. The man he had to beat was none other than local favourite Hans Spaan, which only made his final-lap win even more exciting. Afterwards Ángel Nieto told him: “No matter how many races you have won, savour this moment because you will never forget it.” Four world titles and no fewer than 36 victories later, the ‘Aspar’ who lined up on the grid in Argentina was an entirely different man to that 21-year-old who came of age ten years earlier at ‘The Cathedral’. Ready to race his notoriously difficult Yamaha and with more than one Japanese job at stake, the veteran made a final corner pass on Ueda to secure the final victory of his stellar career. Today Jorge Martínez “Aspar” celebrates again, having watched his team take their 200th podium no long ago he is now left to reflect on a century of victories. His own 37 wins as a rider have been complimented by another 63 as the leader of the Aspar Team, now a standard-bearing organisation within the MotoGP paddock. The circuit was Donington and the rider lucky enough to take the milestone victory and forever form part of the glorious Jorge Martínez “Aspar” story was Julián Simón. Faubel made his mark with seven wins, Elías and Porto with six each, Fonsi with five and his cousin Pablo with the only victory of his career; each has contributed to the Aspar Team’s winning pedigree. However, it has been without doubt Álvaro Bautista, the team’s leading light in the 250cc class, who has been the main heir to Jorge’s legacy, taking sixteen victories so far in “Aspar” colours.

The world of motorcycling has changed and continues to change dramatically since those early days – the circuits, the bikes, the way it is viewed. but one thing that has always remained is that youthful gaze of a fifteen-year-old who has never stopped dreaming despite the success and the inevitable passage of time.

Jorge Martínez “Aspar”: “Who would have thought back in ’79 when I started racing that I could end up in such a privileged position? Looking back on everything we have achieved since then makes me enormously proud and happy. It is incredible to think back to when I was a 15-year-old, when I started racing bikes, and I have never been separated from my life’s passion. I am enormously proud to have a team with six riders in the World Championship, with 200 podiums recently and now 100 victories. There have obviously been a lot of hard times with crashes, injuries, operations and lean financial periods – times when you feel like throwing in the towel. However, I think that one of the most important things in life is consistency, as well as self-belief and fighting for your dreams. I would like to thank all the people who have contributed to the success of this team, from the mechanics to the chief engineers and of course all the sponsors and brands who have worked with us and without whom we could have never reached this glorious milestone.”

Álvaro Bautista: “What more can I say other than that it is incredible to form part of this team. Everything I have achieved in my career has been here and I hope I can add to it. My objective is to win at least as many races as Jorge, to whom I will be eternally grateful for showing faith in me from the beginning.”