Álvaro Bautista produced another strong performance in the tricky conditions of today’s qualifying to take fifth place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Bautista had to contend with the varying conditions during this afternoon’s hour-long session, which included strong winds, cold temperatures, intermittent rain and broken sunshine. He coped well and was one of the busiest riders out on track as he completed 30 laps of the 4,005m Valencian circuit. Bautista improved his times, even as track conditions worsened and finished the session in the middle of the second row to give himself every chance in Sunday’s race, regardless of what the weather might be.

The ever-changing conditions made it very difficult for all riders in today’s qualifying, but Casey Stoner again provided a scintillating performance to take his 12th pole position of the season.

Tomorrow’s race will see the 2011 season draw to a close with what promises to be an exciting 30-lap race, because with rain forecast at some point during the afternoon it could prove to be a very close and open event.

Álvaro Bautista: “Today has again been a good day for us, despite the very difficult conditions. This morning I felt good in the dry session, because today in the cold conditions we had a good feedback from the bike. In qualifying it was very tough, because we had rain before the session and the track was a bit wet in some parts. I pushed hard from the beginning, but it was raining in some parts of the track and it made it even harder because when you see drops of rain on the visor it’s always against logical thinking to push even more. At the end I did some good laps and got a good rhythm despite the strange weather and made my way to fifth on the grid. I’m quite happy with that because this track is not one of the best for Suzuki and we are all looking forward to tomorrow no matter what the conditions are. Yesterday in the wet we did very well and we have a good setting and if it is dry I think we can stay in the battle for the podium positions. We will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings, but we will push to the maximum in any condition because I want to finish the season with a good result and I think it is possible to get it.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager: “The conditions for this afternoon’s qualifying were really horrible for all the riders. There were strong winds with very low grip and persistent light rain – it certainly meant that all the riders earned their money today! As we have said previously, these sort of conditions have been the worst possible for the GSV-R, but whilst the gap to Casey on pole is very big our level against the other guys looks very good. Congratulations to Álvaro on a great effort to qualify fifth, he’s been very focused all weekend and irrespective of the conditions, we aim to finish the season on a high tomorrow!”

Source: Rizla Suzukia

Another great session for Álvaro at the last Grand Prix of the season in Valencia. After mixed conditions on Friday and a dry session this morning the qualifying started with a few damp patches after there was still some rain during the 125cc qualifying but the track dried up quickly in the final minutes of their session.

With dark clouds still looming over the track many riders tried to get in a fast lap right at the beginning in case the rain would come back. There were indeed some more drops falling down towards the end of the session, but fortunately not enough to slow the riders down and there were still improvements possible in the final minutes.

Álvaro stayed around 6th position for most of the qualifying and went back and forth with the Ducacti riders Rossi and Hayden, but finally posted one quick lap which moved him up to 4th and he finally finished the session in a very positive 5th place, starting tomorrow’s race from the second row of the grid.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’31.861
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’32.875 1.014 / 1.014
3 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’33.057 1.196 / 0.182
4 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’33.118 1.257 / 0.061
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’33.443 1.582 / 0.325
6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’33.478 1.617 / 0.035
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’33.656 1.795 / 0.178
8 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’33.824 1.963 / 0.168
9 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’34.186 2.325 / 0.362
10 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’34.265 2.404 / 0.079
11 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’34.329 2.468 / 0.064
12 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’34.671 2.810 / 0.342
13 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’34.680 2.819 / 0.009
14 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’34.838 2.977 / 0.158
15 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.999 4.138 / 1.161
16 Josh HAYES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’36.042 4.181 / 0.043

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista will start tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix from the middle of the third row after qualifying in eighth today.

Bautista (2’02.332, 22 laps) has been consistently in the top-six all weekend and occupied a front-row grid spot with less than a quarter of the qualifying session remaining. He put in a fresh softer rear compound tyre to make an attack and consolidate, or better, his provisional position, but got held up in traffic and couldn’t find a clean lap – while other riders capitalised and produced better times. Despite being on the third row, Bautista’s race pace is very promising and a good start in tomorrow’s race could easily see the Spaniard running with the front group.

Today’s qualifying was held in very warm and humid conditions with track temperatures reaching over 50°C. Dani Pedrosa continued his good form this weekend by taking pole-position.

Tomorrow’s 20-lap race will see Bautista as the lone Rizla Suzuki representative after wild-card entry John Hopkins had to withdraw from the event due to complications from a broken finger that he suffered earlier in the season. The main event tomorrow will get underway at 16.00hrs local time (08.00hrs GMT), when Bautista will be going all out to try and secure his best finish of the season.

Álvaro Bautista: “I’m not very happy with the position, because all weekend we have been in the top-six and that’s what I expected this afternoon. We have a good rhythm compared to some of the other riders and when I put the first soft rear in the bike to make a fast lap I did it alone and I got up to third position. On the last tyre I tried to follow some riders to try and get some tenths to make sure I got at least on the second row, but I didn’t find anybody and also didn’t concentrate enough to do a lap by myself. I am happy with my race pace and the feeling from the bike, but I’m not pleased with my position on the grid. Tomorrow will be a hard race because with these conditions it’s always difficult here. During practice you can always do one fast lap and come back to the box, but in the race you have to be consistent and go for it for 20 laps. I’ll try to make a good start and stay with the group like I did in Phillip Island and see what happens. Today it was possible to be on the second row, but now I need to focus on the race and use all my energy tomorrow to get a good result.

“When you have a small problem, sometimes the problem can become big and I think that is what has happened to John. It has been a big disappointment for everyone, because in the Czech Republic and here we should have been two riders, but he has not been able to race at either event. It is very bad luck for him and I wish him a quick recovery and I feel really sorry for his situation.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“We didn’t reach our potential in qualifying today and that was disappointing. Álvaro looked to get in behind one of the fastest guys on his last run, but in hindsight that worked against him. It would probably have been better for him to find some clear track and build his rhythm. That said, the middle of the third row is not a disaster and our race pace looks pretty strong. The GSV-R seems to be quick on its first timed lap, so if we can elbow past the traffic straight away tomorrow, it could be an interesting race.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki

Álvaro continued his good pace at Sepang in the qualifying session, stringing together many quick and very consistent laps, showing a decent race pace and staying well within a second of the fastest riders which is raises hopes for a big group fighting in the race tomorrow.

He quickly got among the top five positions and stayed there for the first half of the session. After a longer stint in the box he started the second half of the qualifying with a scorcher, moving up to third position, only a handful of tenths behind fastest rider Pedrosa, riding all on his own as well and going consistently at the same pace.
Unfortunately he plummeted down the order later on as he found a lot of traffic in the final laps of the session, unable to put together one clean lap to improve further, eventually finishing only in 8th position, starting tomorrow’s race from third row again.

Still, not a bad result, although surely the goal for qualifying had been higher and his pace is quicker than that as well. But the relatively close gap to the front should bode well for the race tomorrow.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 2’01.462
2 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 2’01.491 0.029 / 0.029
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 2’01.666 0.204 / 0.175
4 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2’02.010 0.548 / 0.344
5 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’02.105 0.643 / 0.095
6 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 2’02.172 0.710 / 0.067
7 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’02.254 0.792 / 0.082
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2’02.332 0.870 / 0.078
9 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 2’02.395 0.933 / 0.063
10 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2’02.756 1.294 / 0.361
11 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 2’02.939 1.477 / 0.183
12 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 2’03.077 1.615 / 0.138
13 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2’03.438 1.976 / 0.361
14 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 2’03.619 2.157 / 0.181
15 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 2’03.646 2.184 / 0.027
16 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 2’03.678 2.216 / 0.032
17 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing 2’04.072 2.610 / 0.394

Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista will start tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix from the front of the second row after qualifying in fourth place this afternoon.

Bautista (1’30.714, 28 laps) made improvements to his GSV-R during this morning’s final practice session and the early parts of this afternoon’s qualifying to help him find the grip he was looking for around the 4,448m Phillip Island circuit. The changes certainly paid dividends because as the qualifying session wore on, Bautista was close enough to Andrea Dovizioso to use the Italian as a mobile wind-screen to help him push through the gusting gales and head for a quick time. Bautista’s lap was over a second quicker than his best time from yesterday and over two-and-a-half seconds better than his qualifying time in similar conditions at last year’s Australian Grand Prix. He is now in a strong position for the race and will be looking to capitalise on today’s performance in tomorrow’s 27-lap encounter.

Conditions were quite different at Phillip Island today as temperatures dropped and the wind speed increased, bringing with it threatening rain clouds, which fortunately held off for the duration of the session. Home star Casey Stoner took pole position, his 11th of the season, with reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo second. Marco Simoncelli took the final place on the front row, just 0.115 seconds in front of Bautista.

Tomorrow’s event is round 16 of the 2011 World Championship and the lights will change to signal the start of the race at 16.00hrs local time (05.00hrs GMT).

Álvaro Bautista: “I’m very happy with today, because I got my best qualifying result so far in MotoGP and at the toughest track for Suzuki, so that shows what good work we have done since last year. It was a fantastic lap behind Dovizioso and when I saw him in front of me on the track, I thought this is my opportunity – if I can’t do a good lap now, I’ll never do one! Third row was not difficult to achieve today, but when I followed him everything seemed easier. With this type of track in this wind and with these types of corners, it helps if you can follow another rider, you can certainly improve a lot and it feels much easier to ride. My feeling is good for tomorrow and I’ll try to make a strong start and stay with the front guys in the first one or two laps. If we can do that I think we will be competitive, because in the first few laps all riders will push hard and after six or seven laps the tyres will probably drop off and the rhythm will settle down. I will try to do a good race tomorrow and get the best possible result I can.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager: “To achieve Suzuki’s best qualifying since Mugello in 2009 – and Álvaro’s best so far – here at Phillip Island is almost funny! Álvaro has had a steady pace all weekend and when it mattered today he managed to tuck-in behind Dovizioso, and use him as a wind-break, and do an absolutely awesome lap-time. It’s been clear from the potential shown this year just how much the GSV-R has improved and for it to perform around here in cold and windy conditions – how it has done today – is testament to the hard work of Sahara san and his engineers in Hamamatsu and to Tom O’Kane and his crew here.

“As always to live with the factory Hondas and Yamahas will be a tough ask tomorrow, but Álvaro has put himself into a great position and if he can get a good start who knows what can happen.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki

A more than good qualifying session for Álvaro at Phillip Island today, a track that’s traditionally not favouring the Suzuki, not least because of the mostly cold weather conditions. But regardless of that Álvaro firmly held his ground throughout the first part of the session, getting into the top ten early and staying comfortably as high as sixth place.

With the threat of possible rain, most riders pushed hard from early on, trying to set a quick lap, just in case the raindrops would fall later. They didn’t until the start of the Moto2 qualifying and the MotoGP session stayed completely dry, allowing the riders to make their regular assault with soft tyres in the final minutes.
Unfortunately Álvaro didn’t quite get the most out of his soft tyres, throwing the first set away as he seemingly had a slight detour and couldn’t make up any time, being bumped down to 10th in the process as other riders took advantage of the better grip.

But all that didn’t matter much as Álvaro found a tow from Andrea Dovizioso, following the Italian very closely around the track to jump up to third position with less than five minutes remaining on the clock. He eventually finished the session in a shock 4th position, being relegated one place to start tomorrow’s race from second row, his best qualifying in the MotoGP class by a long way and at Phillip Island of all places.

However, it’s clearly been a one-off lap for Alvaro, taking maximum advantage of Dovizoso’s tow and it’s unlikely he’ll be able to keep that pace throughout the race tomorrow. But starting from second row at least should see him higher up than usual in the first laps and enable him to fight with a good group as he’ll probably go faster again in the latter stages of the race.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’29.975
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’30.448 0.473 / 0.473
3 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’30.599 0.624 / 0.151
4 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’30.714 0.739 / 0.115
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’30.780 0.805 / 0.066
6 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’30.792 0.817 / 0.012
7 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’30.835 0.860 / 0.043
8 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’30.871 0.896 / 0.036
9 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’31.237 1.262 / 0.366
10 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’31.583 1.608 / 0.346
11 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’31.635 1.660 / 0.052
12 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’31.889 1.914 / 0.254
13 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’31.980 2.005 / 0.091
14 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’32.023 2.048 / 0.043
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’32.054 2.079 / 0.031
16 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’32.503 2.528 / 0.449
Damian CUDLIN Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’36.666 6.691 / 4.163

Álvaro Bautista will start Suzuki’s home Grand Prix at Motegi from the middle of the third row after a consistent and strong qualifying session saw him equal his best MotoGP grid position.

Bautista (P8, 1’46.586, 28 laps) showed great determination to push his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R further up the grid and with just minutes left in the session occupied a second row spot, but he just couldn’t hold on to that position as time ran out and he wasn’t able to better his previous best lap. Bautista worked tirelessly with his crew on a thorough test programme in both the final practice session and this afternoon’s qualifying. He is now convinced he has a good package for tomorrow’s race and believes he will be able to compete with the group of riders that qualified just in front of him today.

Today’s sessions were held under overcast skies with temperatures lower than yesterday. Casey Stoner again led the field to become the first rider in the four-stroke MotoGP era to record 10 pole positions in a season, current champion Jorge Lorenzo was second.

Tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix is the 15th round of the season and the 24–lap race will get underway at 15.00hrs local time (06.00hrs GMT) in front of what promises to be a colourful and excited crowd determined to show its support for their countrymen who suffered in the tragedy that hit Japan early in the year and caused the postponement of the original Grand Prix date.

Álvaro Bautista: “With the time I did in qualifying – one-and-a-half-seconds quicker than last year – I would have been in pole position in 2010! This year the level is amazing and the lap-times are very fast, but our performance is also due to the hard work the guys in the Factory have put in, it has made a big difference. This morning we tested different settings in the two bikes, one of which was set a little bit lower to help me in the hard braking parts of this track, but I tried it too late in the free practice so I didn’t have a clear idea which setting was better. This afternoon we started with the lower bike and harder compound tyres, but the feeling was not what I wanted, so I changed to the other bike and it was better. I improved my lap-time at the end, but I got into some traffic on my last laps so couldn’t improve it anymore. Eighth is not too bad and I want to produce a good race for all the Suzuki company and factory guys that are here this weekend supporting us. I will try to get a good start and fight from the beginning, I think the first three or four will be difficult to catch, but after that I think we can be in the battle for the next few positions. We will see what the weather brings and the condition of the track, but I am looking forward to a good race.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager: “We needed a strong qualifying performance today and Álvaro delivered that. We just didn’t get the timing right on the last run, in terms of track position and traffic, but only half-of-a-second off fourth place on Honda’s home track is a decent result. The first couple of laps will be critical tomorrow and I believe if Álvaro is in the tow with the fastest riders there is a possibility of a very strong result.”

Source: Rizla Suzuki

A good qualifying session for Álvaro at Motegi which he finished in 8th position, looking poised for a strong attack on second row, but finally was pipped to the post for third row again.

Regardless, his pace looks very consistent and very fast, posting several laps in the mid 1’46s and probably comfortably able to fight for a result around sixth place in the race tomorrow.
He took another six tenths out of his fastest laptime, holding his gap to the front again at just over a second, with the exception of Stoner who simply blitzed the field.

Álvaro and his team will hope that the rain also stays away tomorrow and that they can find maybe another tenth here or there in the warmup session.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’45.267
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’45.523 0.256 / 0.256
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’45.791 0.524 / 0.268
4 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’45.966 0.699 / 0.175
5 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’46.042 0.775 / 0.076
6 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’46.211 0.944 / 0.169
7 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’46.467 1.200 / 0.256
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’46.586 1.319 / 0.119
9 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’46.694 1.427 / 0.108
10 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’46.763 1.496 / 0.069
11 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’46.811 1.544 / 0.048
12 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’46.818 1.551 / 0.007
13 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’46.917 1.650 / 0.099
14 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’47.165 1.898 / 0.248
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’47.922 2.655 / 0.757
16 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’48.169 2.902 / 0.247
17 Kousuke AKIYOSHI LCR Honda MotoGP 1’48.367 3.100 / 0.198
18 Damian CUDLIN Pramac Racing Team 1’48.962 3.695 / 0.595
19 Shinichi ITO Honda Racing Team 1’49.971 4.704 / 1.009