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

MotoGP™ returns this weekend at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, where Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner will look to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings.

He will face stiff competition from his teammate Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, who have been the only three racers to stand on the podium this season. They have already cemented themselves as one of the greatest rivalries in the 64-year history of the sport, having shared the podium a record 16 times – four more than any other trio in the past.

Le Mans, which will host the Grand Prix for the 55th time this weekend, also sees Stoner chasing his 19th successive podium. Having won the last two races, and showing clear signs of recovery from his arm pump problem, he remains the man to beat. Lorenzo, only one point behind the Australian in the standings, has been the most consistent challenger so far and will be looking to get one over on the current World Champion at a track where he has won twice already in the premier class.

Pedrosa on the other hand, who recorded his 100th podium finish last time out at Estoril, will be looking to get his first win of the season at a track where he has not yet won in the top category. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pair Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso have so far provided some great inter-team battles and will be aiming to not only out-do one another once again, but to find that extra bit of pace to catch up to the front three.

Ducati Team pair Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, who both had mixed fortunes last time out, will be heading to the French track with optimism after Rossi recorded his best Ducati result this season in seventh. Having finished 26 seconds behind race winner Stoner, this was the closest any Ducati rider has finished to the race winner since Rossi’s seventh place finish at Misano last year. The Italian will also hold fond memories of the French track, as Le Mans was the setting for Rossi’s sole podium last year.

Honda satellite riders, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista and LCR Honda MotoGP’s rookie Stefan Bradl will look to build on their solid performances so far this year, while Pramac Racing’s Héctor Barberá on-board his satellite Ducati will look to improve on his 10th place at Estoril. Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham has not finished a race this season so far and will hope to turn his fortunes around.

After suffering a broken left collarbone in Estoril qualifying, NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards will be replaced by 2007 Le Mans race-winner Chris Vermeulen, making his first MotoGP appearance since 2009. Power Electronics Aspar pair Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaró will be gunning for top CRT honour once more, with de Puniet having the added motivation of Le Mans being his home track.

San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Michele Pirro and Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci will once again hope for a solid performance, while Speed Master’s Mattia Pasini, Paul Bird Motorsport’s James Ellison and Avintia Blusens pair Yonny Hernandez and Iván Silva will look to reverse their fortunes this time out and complete the race.

Source: motogp.com

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