After the announcement that Barracuda would become an official team sponsor for San Carlo Honda Gresini during the 2012 season, the Italian company has published first photos of the new 2012 bike design with their logo. This is what Álvaro’s Honda RC213V will look like.

In other and less cool news, Álvaro has been dealing with tendinitis in his right arm for about a week now, regularly visiting his physiotherapist to fix the problem before having to leave for the Sepang test which starts in exactly one week. However, Álvaro is confident the arm won’t be a problem for testing, so we keep our fingers crossed he’ll be alright for his first ride on the 1000cc Honda.

And with the pre-season testing finally upon us in just a short time, it’s been announced that most of the CRT teams won’t be testing in Sepang due to financial reasons and will instead be testing in Valencia, Jerez and Aragon while the MotoGP prototypes are out in Malaysia. For the final test in Jerez – the “GP Zero” – all bikes of the class will be on track together for the first time. Here’s a quick overview of the MotoGP test dates still to come.

Sepang I – January 31st to Februay 2nd
Sepang II – February 28th to March 1st
Jerez – March 23rd to March 25th

Photo: Barracuda Facebook Page

As we reported earlier, Álvaro has been under the knife again on Wednesday. In the meantime he has been discharged from the hospital and is already back home.

He will be able to do a full recovery at home after Dr. Angel Villamor and his team at the USP Hospital San José Madrid have removed the material they inserted in March to fix his broken leg.

Specifically, the doctors Angel Villamor and Rafael Durá (shown in the picture next to Álvaro) have removed the intramedullary nail which was placed in the left femur and the screws. The Talaverano is well, motivated and smiling.

After a night’s rest he was discharged from hospital on Thursday morning and travelled back home. He already tweeted that he’s feeling good, but with a painful buttcheek – “like I’ve been kicked hard in the behind!” – because a muscle had to be moved for the surgery and is still sore. But the pain is bearable and should pass in the next few days and he should be able to start his recovery shortly.

He will be fully fit for the next season of the MotoGP world championship.

Source: USP San José , Twitter Álvaro Bautista

Álvaro went under the knife again yesterday to have the large pin removed which was inserted in his left femur after his crash in Qatar early this year. Looked after by his regular surgeon and friend Dr. Angel Villamor at the USP hospital San José in Madrid, Álvaro’s biggest worry before the operation was actually the syringe he’d have to be pinched with in order to fall asleep, as he proclaimed on his Twitter account [he is not very fond of needles and said in several interviews that it was one of the worst things about racing for him with the necessary more or less regular trips to doctors]. The operation is a relatively standard procedure and rehabilitation should not last too long.

In the evening Álvaro already tweeted that everything went well, thanked Dr. Villamor and his staff for the “terrific treatment” he always gets from them and joked that he’ll take the very large nail home with him – not as a “souvenir”, but as a possible weapon in case he ever has to fight it out with someone…

He spent the night at the hospital to rest and full recover from the anaesthesia and will be discharged today. He won’t be able to train properly for a while, but he already stated that a bit of complete rest will even be welcomed. The rehabilitation period should be over quickly however and he’ll be fully fit for the first test of 2012 in Sepang.

Source: Twitter Álvaro Bautista
Photo: The removed nail next to a 1,5 liter (!) bottle, courtesy of Noelia Velasco

It’s been Alvaro’s turn again for the official Suzuki Racing Blog where he describes his comeback from injury when he expects to be at 100% again.

It was great to be back on the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R in Portugal, but there were a couple of times when I was in the hospital in Qatar that I wondered if I would make it! When I knew the seriousness of the break I immediately set myself a target that I wanted to ride at Estoril; that was a huge target but one I knew I had to set so I could focus on getting back. After my operation I had a couple of complications and that’s when I wondered if I’d get back in time, but I flew back to Spain and got everything sorted and was able to start recuperating properly.

Once the healing of my wound was underway – I lead the World Championship in stitches so far this year! – I was able to start visiting a hyperbaric chamber in Madrid to help me even more. I travelled there from my home in Talavera many times. I think I did something like 4,500 kilometres going there and back and by the time I had finished all the trips, my Suzuki Kizashi car could have done the journey alone!

My healing process was a great success and then I was able start to get my fitness back so I could ride at Estoril. I did a lot of swimming and cycling, and as the event got closer I was able to ride my Suzuki RM-Z Supermoto bike to help me get the feel of a bike again and although this is not like riding a 225bhp MotoGP bike, it did help a lot.

All my hard work paid off because I was given the ok by my surgeon in Madrid to ride and then when I arrived at the track I had another check-up with the Chief Medical Officer and I was given the ok to get back out there and race: His one rule was that I couldn’t use my crutch inside the garage or he’d come in and take it off me and stop me riding – so I had to hide it out the back because I still needed it for a bit of support!

The weekend went as well as I wanted it to – except for what happened in the race when I got pushed off the track – and now I have a couple of weeks ahead of me to get even fitter for the next race at Le Mans in the middle of May. My next target is to be fully-fit for my ‘home’ Grand Prix in Barcelona in early June and try to improve on the fifth place I got there last year.

My thanks go out to all the fans that supported me and sent me well wishes on Twitter – it was great to know I had so much support. I also have to thank the Suzuki MotoGP and all the medical staff for believing in me and giving me all the help I needed to get back on time. There are still many races left this year and I can’t wait to be pushing hard again very soon.

Source: Suzuki Racing

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista has been passed fit to ride at this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix, following a medical at the Estoril circuit today.

Bautista was examined by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sarmento and after a thorough assessment of the Spaniard’s condition, he was deemed fit to return to action with immediate effect.

Bautista broke his left femur at Qatar only 41-days ago and will make an incredible return to MotoGP action tomorrow morning in the first free-practice session, where he will also assess his own on-bike fitness. If he is unable to continue for the remainder of the weekend Rizla Suzuki has Factory test rider Nobuatsu Aoki available to deputise.

Álvaro Bautista: “I am really pleased I have been given the ok to ride, but I must now see what it feels like to get on a MotoGP bike. I have done a bit of Supermotard riding and that felt good, but that is nothing like riding the GSV-R. I will see how things go tomorrow morning and we will make a decision about the rest of the weekend after that.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything. And it’s exactly how many days the heroic challenge of Alvaro Bautista lasted to come back in Estoril after breaking his left leg during free practice for the Qatar GP and living a nightmare week in Qatari and Spanish hospitals. During this time he worked incredibly hard to recover, always keeping his fans informed via his Twitter account, sharing his daily routine and giving the world a glimpse into how tough it is for a professional athlete to come back from such an injury. Getting the green light from his physician Dr. Villamor earlier this week, there are now only two more obstacles on his way to race on Sunday: A second check by the circuit doctor and the reality check on Friday, participating in both free practice sessions for the Portuguese Grand Prix. Suzuki test ride Nobu Aoki is on standby in case Alvaro can’t race after all. But so far the odds look good for the Spaniard.

Incredibly Alvaro is already back to such a high level of fitness after this short amount of time that he started to ride Supermoto a few days ago, to get used again to the feeling of riding. Mela Chercoles from Spanish newspaper AS visited him during training and interviewed him ahead of his return to racing.

I’m glad to see you smile…
I’m someone who always smiles, it’s like it is, but for sure just over a month ago I was lying in a bed with a stiff leg and now I’m preparing with Supermoto for the Portuguese Grand Prix.

What has been the hardest in this process?
The days in the hospital in Qatar, because I couldn’t see the moment to start the recovery. There everything was getting worse.

You know already how it is to force a comeback, last year in France with the collarbone, and then not to race.
Yes, but to ride these bikes it’s worse to have broken the collarbone than the femur because they require a lot of upper body strength to get them to change direction or pick them up in the corners. The case of Rossi last year is an example.

How long have you ridden the Supermoto and how was the feeling?
On Monday I did three runs: one for 15 minutes, one for 20 and another for 25 (one hour). And today [yesterday], I did one of 10, two of 20 and one of 25 minutes (1 hour 15 minutes) It was at a kart circuit they’ve built near Talavera de la Reina. It is very twisty, with many changes of direction and without any break because there is almost no straight. You can only go in third gear, so the laps seem longer to you than they’ve really been.

How did the broken left femur hold up?
To be honest it goes well taking a corner and changing direction. The worst thing is changing gears, but for sure at this circuit it takes 30 second to do one lap and you change gears a dozen times, which is a lot. With MotoGP, aside from the gear change being reversed (the first gear is up and the others down), in thirty seconds you change gears five times at most, so I’ll feel less pain because I will change less. On the other hand the MotoGP bike weighs more and is another bike, so we’ll see.

Explain the benefits of the reversed gear change in MotoGP.
To go down gears with the MotoGP bike I have to move the foot upwards, which is what troubles me most, but when you’re going straight out of the curve to put them in I’ll just have to give it a slight touch down, without any strange positions. It will benefit me in case I race, because I still need the doctor’s permission in Estoril.

A process …
Yes, but you have to pass. I’m confident there won’t be a problem. I’ve worked hard to recover and move my leg well, although not as much as the right.

What drives you not to wait a little longer, until France?
I’m very bored at home, without riding my bike. [Laughs]. To me it’s almost worse to miss a race than to lose a foot, because the races are my life. When I injured myself in Qatar it hurt me a lot to miss Jerez and I considered it a personal challenge to return as soon as possible, in Portugal, and if I do it’s because I’m fine. Also, the sooner I get on the bike, the sooner I can catch up on the time lost, because it’s one thing to get on the bike and another to have the race pace, the sense of speed, braking. If I have no trouble, Estoril will be like my preseason.

What goal have you set?
To race and if I can do that to finish as good as possible, developing from the first to the last day.

Source: AS.com

Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista is targeting an amazing return to the MotoGP arena at this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix, just 42 days after breaking his left femur.

Bautista has been undergoing intensive physiotherapy to make sure he is at a sufficient level of fitness to be able to take to the track on Friday – following a full medical to determine his ability to compete. If he is unable to ride at a competitive level, Rizla Suzuki will have Factory test rider Nobuatsu Aoki on stand-by to take over if he has to withdraw from the event – but Bautista’s clear target is to compete in the Grand Prix.

Rizla Suzuki’s GSV-R will feature a new logo in Estoril – ‘Change and Challenge’ – which is used by Suzuki in the Asian regions to promote its new range of motorcycle products in these markets. Rizla Suzuki hopes to engage with the enthusiasm and passion of all MotoGP fans in these areas and it appreciates all the support of Bautista as he undertakes what is certainly a huge ‘challenge’ in his comeback from serious injury.

The Estoril circuit is a track of contrasts, where some fast corners in its 13-turn configuration mix with an almost kilometre-long straight and one of the slowest sections of the year. Situated on a rocky outcrop high above the towns of Estoril and Cascais, the circuit is only six kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean and this can give rise to some very changeable weather, a fact that was emphasised in 2010 when torrential rain caused the cancellation of the qualifying session.

Bautista plans to take to the track on Friday morning for the first of two free-practice sessions. Saturday will see a final practice in the morning, followed by an hour-long qualifying session in the afternoon where he aims to be qualifying for the best grid position he can obtain. Sunday’s race is round three of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship and the 28-lap race gets underway at 13.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista: “I have been working very hard to be back in time for Estoril and I believe I will be able to take part in the race. I know it will be difficult, but I think the sooner I can get on the bike the more it will aid my total recovery and help my way to full fitness. I have travelled over 4,500km with many journeys to the hyperbaric chamber in Madrid to assist with my healing – I have been there so many times I could close my eyes and go without problems! I have now finished the rehabilitation phase and started on the physical preparation; this involves a lot of swimming, cycling and other fitness programmes to build up the strength so I can ride again. It is going to be really tough, but I am totally focused on being on the GSV-R in Portugal, it’s all I can think about at the moment and that is my first goal. After that we’ll see what happens and take everything one step at a time.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
Photo: Alvaro testing on Supermoto bike yesterday, Source: Twitter

Álvaro Bautista received a positive update on his recovery from a fractured femur when the Spanish rider underwent a medical check at the Hospital USP San José de Madrid on Tuesday afternoon.

Dr Ángel Villamor examined the Rizla Suzuki rider, who fractured his left femur in Qatar, and X-rays revealed good progress in his recovery process, something which has strengthened Bautista’s determination to make his return at the Estoril round later this month.

“We’ve been looking at the X-rays they took of me this afternoon with Dr Villamor and it appears that the bone is forming well and there’s less risk of it not healing well,” Bautista explained to motogp.com.
“We’ve passed the first stage, and that means I should be able to start to push on little by little and start getting stronger in the leg, because I have lost a lot of strength and with less fear I can start to move the bone and regain full feeling. That’ll mean I can start exercising with a little resistance and start to speed up the recuperation process to be as quick as possible.”

Bautista has already been undertaking flexibility and mobility exercises, as well as completing sessions in a hyberbaric chamber. With the Portuguese GP arriving on the weekend of April 29th-May 1st, Bautista is eager to be fit in time to make his comeback.

“We still have 17 days before I need to get back on a bike. The doctor said everything is going reasonably quickly and that’s my objective. I have two weeks in which to work and gain strength in the leg. Before travelling to Estoril I will have another consultation with the medical team, they’ll do fresh X-rays to ensure everything’s fine and the idea is to return in Portugal,” said a hopeful Bautista.

“It’s still not 100% certain, but the only thing on my mind is returning and my aim is to do that in Estoril although it’ll be a decision for the medical team. They’ve told me that if I continue at this pace there is a good chance, but there is still a lot of hard work ahead if I want to get back to a suitable physical condition for MotoGP.”

Bautista admitted that attending the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez as a spectator caused some conflicting feelings: “I’ve never seen the race from that point of view and in addition to that I was very restricted, walking with crutches, getting tired… I’ve experienced a lot of envy seeing the other riders, I was eager to ride the bike and then on Sunday when I saw the race I felt even more angry because I saw all the crashes and it was a race of being calm, using your head and get a good result. But I’d rather not think about it anymore, it was a strange weekend, but the truth is that I also needed to be there for my team and because people are very interested after my injury and I received many messages of support. I wanted to make the effort as a Thankyou for all the people who cared about me.”

Source: motogp.com