As is customary this season every Tuesday after a Grand Prix, Alvaro posted a new column for AS yesterday. This is the complete translation.

The first time. Hi friends! Here I am again, another week with you. I am writing this time from Holland, because I came here to do an event with Rev’it!, my brand of leathers, after Le Mans, a circuit that is not one of my favourites and where for me it was the first time riding a MotoGP bike. Last year I didn’t do it because I had an injured collarbone. But before we go on, first I want to send from here all my support and my sympathies to the people of Lorca, in particular to the families of the deceased. These are hard days for them all, but surely they will emerge stronger.

My leg. This weekend I tried a new chassis which I believe will help us to improve. I made some changes to the bike during practice, because with the cold temperatures there was no grip at all on the rear wheel. I lacked confidence and, as I am still now, recovering from the injury what I need above all is to feel good on the bike. We improved the Suzuki for the qualifying, but not enough to be 100%. During the practice runs my left leg responded well. I have improved greatly since Portugal, although in the changes of direction I’m still a little slow. I hope to be on top again soon.

The race. Honestly I was very confident to be able to fight for a top ten result in the race, because in practice I had a good pace and I was 1.3 seconds behind the pole, but the start was as usual. In the first lap I lost positions because the tyres were not yet warm enough. It was colder than on the days before and I couldn’t go fast in the corners. I didn’t feel the same grip on the bike as in practice. I spent the whole race fighting with Abraham, Barbera and Elias. It was a fun fight, because we passed and re-passed each other. It was good for me, because I could get my rhythm fighting with others, not like in Estoril, where I rode alone after going off track. It was a shame that with just two laps to go, after passing Abraham, I inadvertently changed the gear to neutral. I lost time to the group. I tried to catch them, but I had no time to pass them and we stuck together.

Rossi. Some time later it seems that Vale is littly by little doing better with the Ducati and he got his first podium. Although I don’t think he will fight for the title you can never count out Rossi. The Honda is on a higher level than the rest and here you could see it more.

Controversy. Much controversy has been going on about Simoncelli since Portugal. For me it is nothing new. In 250cc I already complained about his dangerous riding against others… and it was nothing. Then it did not matter, but of course now in MotoGP things change and it seems that he is dangerous indeed. I didn’t see the incident in the race between him and Pedrosa very well, but it seems that Dani wanted to pass him and he wanted to keep him from it. It’s hard to say who was to blame from the outside, only they know, although Simoncelli received a ride through penalty.

Congratulations. Congratulations to Maverick. What a race! In his fourth race in the world championship he gets his first win. We have good young talent. Nico was fantastic. He did what he had to do and increased his lead. In 125cc Efren topped off the triple. I’m happy for them. And a perfect race from Marc in Moto2. He was patient and things will come. And also well done Julito in the fight for the podium…

Montmeló. The next race is at home, in Barcelona. I love racing in front of the Spanish fans. In Jerez I could not do it, but in Montmeló I hope to do a very good race in front of the best fans in the world. I hope my leg will be fully recovered and I can squeeze the most out of my Suzuki. Can I improve the fifth place from last year? We will know in three weeks. Until then, endure the time without bikes as good as you can, I know it’s hard. See you!

Source: AS.com

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista produced another strong performance as he fought fairing-to-fairing right to the chequered flag at Le Mans today.

Bautista got off the line well at the start of the race, but was boxed in on the first couple of corners and found himself relegated to last place by the end of the first lap. Bautista composed himself and set about catching and passing the riders in front of him and on lap five he got involved in a five man battle that would carry on until the end of the race. Bautista picked each rider off over the middle section of the race to move up to ninth place, but a mistake later on saw him lose two places. The battling Spaniard was then hit from behind by Loris Capirossi, as Bautista also came together with Hector Barbera – an incident that saw Capirossi crash out. This caused Bautista to lose time to the pack and although he fought back to the group, he didn’t have enough laps for another attack and had to settle for 12th place, just 0.463 seconds from ninth position.

Over 88,000 enthusiastic French fans watched the race at trackside, as the storm clouds that threatened stayed away and allowed for a dry race. Honda’s Casey Stoner completed a dominant weekend’s work by winning the race by over 14 seconds from team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo still leads the riders’ standing after four rounds.

Rizla Suzuki will now travel to Spain for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship that sees the Montmelo circuit near Barcelona stage race five in this season’s calendar on Sunday 5th June.

Álvaro Bautista: “This is my first race this year because in Estoril I raced alone, but today I was able to fight with other riders! We managed to finish the race and get more kilometres under our belts, but I did not have the same feeling today as we had yesterday. I felt like I had no good rear grip in the exit of the corner and the bike was spinning a lot and I struggled to stay with the group going for places in the top-10. I made a mistake when I tried to pass Abraham later on as I touched the gear lever and went into neutral and lost some time, and I also had a bit of an incident with Loris and Hector. I tried to catch the group at the end, but it was very difficult to get past them. This is another race completed and I felt more competitive than in Estoril. This race was good for getting the racing feeling back and being able to overtake other riders and fight with them. I did many overtakes under braking and enjoyed the race very much – but not the result! I think if my rhythm had been better I could have finished in the top-10.
“I want to thank all my team, because it has been a difficult weekend with some strange weather conditions, we tried to do the best we could and make a good bike for these conditions.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager: “This weekend has been a successful second step for Álvaro’s recovery, and the fact that he’s ridden the bike in Estoril and here in Le Mans is a great result in itself – compared to what most people involved in MotoGP thought would happen. The general consensus was to come back at Catalunya, and that was as good as we could expect. Now we have two race-weekends under our belt, his first battle with other riders since Valencia last year and a good platform to really start our season. In Barcelona – the Rizla Suzuki goes well there, the rider will be back to full strength and we’re all looking forward to it!”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Alvaro took 12th position in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans after a race-long battle with a handful of riders. He had a slow start, falling into last position after the first lap, but slowly finding his rhythm and latching on to the group in front of him which was finally fighting for 9th position. He moved up through the ranks and had some good battles, but finally had to be content with a close finish in 12th, within reach of the top ten.

Pos. Num. Rider Team Time/Gap
1 27 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 44’03.955
2 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team +14.214
3 46 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team +14.564
4 1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing +21.075
5 58 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini +31.245
6 11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing +31.609
7 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team +35.566
8 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini +51.502
9 8 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP +1’03.731
10 17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing +1’03.885
11 24 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP +1’04.068
12 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1’04.192
13 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2 Laps

Not Classified
65 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 7 Laps
26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 11 Laps
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 22 Laps
14 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 27 Laps

Álvaro Bautista produced yet another brave performance during today’s qualifying at Le Mans to put his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R on the fourth row for tomorrow’s race.

Bautista (P12, 1’34.513, 29 laps) improved consistently throughout the day, and during this afternoon’s qualifying was regularly in the top-10, he produced solid race-pace laps that show he has a chance of being competitive on Sunday. His final time was less than a second from a front-row start and with the injury he is still carrying, and the lack of track-time that he has had on a MotoGP machine around the French circuit, emphasise what a superb performance the Spaniard has produced today.

Dry and sunny conditions again covered the 4,185m Le Mans track and for the second day in succession Honda’s Casey Stoner led the way in both of the sessions and took pole position for tomorrow’s race, but with rain a possibility for Sunday the race could be wide open.

The main event gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) on Sunday 15th May, when Bautista will be looking to continue with the improvement in fitness and hard work – that he has so far shown this weekend – to bring his Rizla Suzuki home in a good points scoring position.

Álvaro Bautista: “I am happy with the work we have done today. This morning we tried a new setting in the bike because yesterday we needed more rear grip when we entered the corners and today we tried to make the bike shorter to help with this. It was the right thing to do because suddenly it felt much better, but the change was made on the old frame, so this afternoon we put the same setting in the new chassis and the improvement was even better. My rhythm was between mid 1’34 and 1’35 all the time and this was easy to do. At the end of qualifying I tried to follow some other guys, but I made some mistakes on my best lap – so I think I can certainly improve on that. We have done a good job today and I am happy with the whole team because they are helping me so much to get the confidence in the bike. If we continue in this way I think we will be at the top of our performance very soon!”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Álvaro had done incredibly well to return from injury in Estoril and today in Le Mans he has begun to compete properly and ride with his usual levels of aggression. It’s easy to underestimate the psychological – as well as physical – effects of accidents and injuries, and to come back as quickly as he has – and to such a reasonable level – is very encouraging for the rest of the season. I have to say well done to Tom – Álvaro’s Crew Chief – for sticking to his guns and making the right changes to the bike, which have allowed Álvaro to be a lot more competitive today.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Unsurprisingly Casey Stoner took pole position for the French Grand Prix in Le Mans this afternoon, with all four factory Honda riders occupying the first four positions in qualifying, followed by a phalanx of all four Yamahas, three Ducatis and then the sole Suzuki of Alvaro qualifying in 12th place.

Starting from fourth row tomorrow is not a bad result at all for Alvaro who’s still not at 100% and doesn’t count Le Mans as one of his favourite or really successful tracks. But more importantly he managed to keep a pretty quick rhythm in the final 30 minutes of the session, looking capable to possibly battle for a top ten position in the race tomorrow if he gets a good start.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’33.153
2 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’33.212 0.059 / 0.059
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’33.621 0.468 / 0.409
4 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’33.683 0.530 / 0.062
5 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’33.706 0.553 / 0.023
6 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’33.804 0.651 / 0.098
7 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’34.063 0.910 / 0.259
8 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’34.206 1.053 / 0.143
9 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’34.206 1.053
10 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’34.277 1.124 / 0.071
11 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’34.351 1.198 / 0.074
12 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’34.513 1.360 / 0.162
13 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’34.612 1.459 / 0.099
14 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’34.650 1.497 / 0.038
15 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’34.866 1.713 / 0.216
16 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’35.010 1.857 / 0.144
17 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’35.433 2.280 / 0.423

The final free practice for the MotoGP class at Le Mans got underway this morning in dry but much cooler conditions than yesterday afternoon. Subsequently laptimes were generally slower than yesterday and only a handful of riders managed to improve, including Alvaro, albeit only for a couple hundredths of a second, finishing the session in 13th position.

Casey Stoner was again the fastest man on track and the only rider managing to break the 1’34 barrier.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’33.815
2 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’34.075 0.260 / 0.260
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’34.244 0.429 / 0.169
4 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’34.545 0.730 / 0.301
5 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’34.954 1.139 / 0.409
6 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.051 1.236 / 0.097
7 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’35.280 1.465 / 0.229
8 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.281 1.466 / 0.001
9 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.302 1.487 / 0.021
10 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.442 1.627 / 0.140
11 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’35.645 1.830 / 0.203
12 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’35.799 1.984 / 0.154
13 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’35.979 2.164 / 0.180
14 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’36.091 2.276 / 0.112
15 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’36.268 2.453 / 0.177
16 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’36.370 2.555 / 0.102
17 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’36.467 2.652 / 0.097

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista today completed his first full day of practice on a MotoGP machine at the Le Mans circuit in France, but still feels he has more work to do.

Bautista (P15, 1’35.992, 42 laps) is still recovering from the broken femur he suffered eight weeks ago, and is yet to reach full fitness, but the plucky Spaniard didn’t let that bother him today as he set about coming to terms with the stop-start nature of the Le Mans track – a configuration that certainly tested him and the Suzuki GSV-R to the limit. Bautista progressed steadily throughout the day and recorded his best lap-time of the penultimate circulation of the afternoon session. He worked with his team to get the GSV-R set-up to give him the confidence he requires and is convinced he will be stronger as the weekend progresses. Today marked the first time that Bautista has completed a session on a MotoGP bike after a crash in last year’s first session ruled him out of the rest of the weekend’s proceedings.

Today’s practices were both held in dry and sunny conditions, but a brisk wind kept temperatures at a pleasant 24ºC this afternoon. Honda’s Casey Stoner led the way in both of today’s practice sessions to top the leader-board on day one.

Rizla Suzuki and Bautista have one more practice session tomorrow morning, before an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28-lap race is the fourth round of the 2011 season and the lights will go out to signal the start of the race at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista: “It has been a difficult day because for me this has really been the first time I’ve ridden a MotoGP bike here – after crashing and not being able to continue last year. In both sessions I had a bit of a problem entering the corners because I didn’t feel like I had enough grip. The bike felt like it was floating and this didn’t give me the confidence to turn quickly. We will have to work on this to improve things, but I have complete faith in my team that they will get it sorted out. We still need a bit more time to get the bike set right so I can start to push to the limit, but the bike didn’t give me that today and in my condition it’s quite difficult to push that far. My mind and my body still don’t want to risk anything, so we still need to go step-by-step, but I’m sure we’ll be quicker tomorrow. My leg is much better than Portugal, it’s still not perfect, but I was able to do the whole of today’s practices without getting too tired.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Álvaro is more focussed on performance here in Le Mans, than he is on recovering from his broken leg, but we have to be realistic and remember that he is still in the recuperation process. In addition, the Le Mans circuit holds some horrible memories from last year, so for all these reasons it will take a while to build his confidence and let him attack the circuit. Without question there’s work to do with the bike and the benefits of the new chassis are not being felt yet – we need to get the settings right so he can go closer to the limits. We’ve done plenty of laps today – and got some useful data – and now we have a base to be able to improve significantly tomorrow.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

In fortunately sunny and dry conditions the first practice of the MotoGP class for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans got underway this morning.

Casey Stoner returned to dominating the field, staying on top of the time sheets for the best part of the practice and opening a gap as big as over a second until shortly before the end. Only his fellow factory Honday riders managed to come close to him in the final minutes, showing that the new HRC package might well be able to finally beat Yamaha at one of their best tracks.

Alvaro had a good session, moving up to 13th position a few minutes before the end of the practice, only being relegated one place in the final minute when Capirossi moved in front of him. However, he’s within a tenth of Capirossi and Aoyama and looked much more competitive throughout the session than he did two weeks ago at Estoril where he made a surprisingly early return from his injury. Le Mans traditonally isn’t one of Alvaro’s strongest tracks, so it’s encouraging to see him run with the field from early on.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’34.133
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’34.431 0.298 / 0.298
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’34.808 0.675 / 0.377
4 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’35.029 0.896 / 0.221
5 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.165 1.032 / 0.136
6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’35.414 1.281 / 0.249
7 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’35.687 1.554 / 0.273
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’35.721 1.588 / 0.034
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.731 1.598 / 0.010
10 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.743 1.610 / 0.012
11 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.871 1.738 / 0.128
12 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’36.410 2.277 / 0.539
13 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’36.448 2.315 / 0.038
14 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’36.510 2.377 / 0.062
15 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’36.997 2.864 / 0.487
16 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’37.036 2.903 / 0.039
17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’37.154 3.021 / 0.118