A heavy thunderstorm and rain cut short the final day of testing at Sepang today, robbing the MotoGP riders of the final 40 minutes of the afternoon session and the possibility to push once more for a good laptime.

Álvaro finished the day in 9th position, again improving on his fastest laptime from the previous day by just over half a second, clocking a personal best of 2.01’384. This put him 1,777 seconds behind fastest man Casey Stoner, increasing his gap to the front considerably compared to the first two days.

However, this was also due to Stoner again completely blitzing the competition and posting a new circuit record with only his second lap early in the day. Álvaro also set his fastest time in only his eighth lap during the morning session. He’s not been out on track for several hours in the afternoon after the lunch break and had only started to complete a few more laps before some mighty clouds and the thunderstorm arrived.

This leaves his tally at 34 laps on the final day, a dozen less than yesterday. His main focus for the day lay on geometry issues to improve his feeling on the bike and make him more comfortable to push.

The second test of the 2012 preseason will again be held at Sepang, starting on February 28th and lasting for three days until 1st of March.

Results Table: motogp.com

It’s been a very emotional Grand Prix for the entire MotoGP paddock after the tragic death of Marco Simoncelli just two weeks ago and the weekend was filled with tributes to the Italian, including a “Minute of Noise” after the warmup sessions this morning, when all riders from all classes went out on track together and Kevin Schwantz rode Simoncelli’s Honda on the parade lap which was followed by two minutes of traditional fireworks.

With all titles decided, everyone on the MotoGP grid was eager to finish the year with the best possible result and commemorate Marco by putting on a great show for the fans.
Unfortunately Álvaro couldn’t capitalize on his excellent grid position and the race didn’t last long for him as he clipped the rear tyre of Andrea Dovizioso in the first corner and crashed out in the middle of the tighly packed field, taking out Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi and Randy De Puniet with him. The mass crash was a decided anti-climax of what looked to become a very tight race as none of the involved riders was able to rejoin the race. Being boxed in at the start and braking late into the corner, there was nothing Álvaro could do about touching with Andrea’s bike, but it triggered several more crashes and Álvaro immediately went to the boxes of the other riders to apologize to them.

With only 12 riders remaining on track it still became a rather exciting race with a race-long battle between Andrea Dovizoso and Dani Pedrosa for second position on track and third in the championship and they were joined by Ben Spies who later passed both Honda riders and even caught up with Casey Stoner who had already built up a massive lead, but with the weather worsening and Stoner making a small mistake Spies surprisingly took over at the front and looked set to take his second victory, but Stoner managed to zoom past him on the finish straight and took his tenths win of the season with the narrowest of margins, capping off a nearly perfect championship year.
Dovizoso finally brought home third place, sealing the third place in the championship, while Rookie Cal Crutchlow managed an outstanding fourth place, battling with fellow Rookie Karel Abraham all race until the Czech rider crashed out in the last lap and even passing Dani Pedrosa to take his best result of the season and the Rookie of the Year title.

Despite the joy the atmosphere in the paddock was still a bit subdued and no champagne was sprayed on the podium, in memory of Simoncelli. The paddock also said Goodbye to Loris Capirossi who retires from racing after 22 seasons in the championship and Hiroshi Aoyama who will be riding in World Superbikes next year.

The 2012 season will already start on Tuesday as the MotoGP boys are back out on track to test their new 1000cc bikes. According to the latest rumours Suzuki will be at that test, seemingly making it only a formality for them to officially announce their stay in the MotoGP class. It’s assumed that Álvaro will continue with Suzuki, but there’s been no official announcement as of yet.

Pos. Rider Team Time/Gap
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 48’18.645
2 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing +0.015
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team +5.936
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +8.718
5 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +9.321
6 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing +23.818
7 Josh HAYES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +33.118
8 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing +37.952
9 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team +48.953
10 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP +52.501
11 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP +1’06.519
12 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini +1’08.760

Not Classified
Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 0 Lap
Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 0 Lap
Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 0 Lap
Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 0 Lap

After the atrocious and mixed conditions yesterday most riders were happy to find much better weather at the Valencian circuit this morning for the third free practice. Although it was still relatively cold, the track was dry and there was no more rain throughout the session, giving everyone the chance to properly test their dry setups.
The improved conditions also saw the timing screens revert to “normal” with Casey Stoner again clearing off at the front ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa who already has a gap of over half a second on Stoner, but is in turn also almost half a second quicker than surprising third-fastest rider Randy De Puniet.

Álvaro finished the session in 7th position, again starting out strongly and staying inside the top five and posting consistent laptimes until the end and just being fractionally slower than 6th-placed Valentino Rossi. However, a gap of 1.690 seconds to Stoner is a lot on a short track like Valencia and Ávaro and his team will hope to find some more improvements to the setup for qualifying this afternoon.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’32.619
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’33.282 0.663 / 0.663
3 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’33.743 1.124 / 0.461
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’33.929 1.310 / 0.186
5 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’33.977 1.358 / 0.048
6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’34.268 1.649 / 0.291
7 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’34.309 1.690 / 0.041
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’34.462 1.843 / 0.153
9 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’34.676 2.057 / 0.214
10 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’34.809 2.190 / 0.133
11 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’35.037 2.418 / 0.228
12 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’35.118 2.499 / 0.081
13 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.326 2.707 / 0.208
14 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’35.899 3.280 / 0.573
15 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing 1’36.193 3.574 / 0.294
16 Josh HAYES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’36.256 3.637 / 0.063

It’s been slightly unusual first practice session at the Valencian circuit this morning, certainly when looking at the results.
Track conditions were rather treacherous, the asphalt being partly wet but drying up in other places and generally not providing much grip. In the 125cc practice right before the MotoGP practice there’s been a plethora of crashes and certainly most MotoGP riders weren’t going to take unnecessary risks first time out on track.
Subsequently and due to the conditions the laptimes were a good 13 seconds slower than the circuit record and the practice saw some unusual names up front for most of the session until finally Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa somewhat restored the “normal order” by taking over first and second. Behind them the Ducatis seem to go well again in these kind of conditions with Rossi, Hayden and Capirossi leading the armada.

Álvaro finished the session down in 11th position after leading the field and staying in second for quite a long time until about 15 minutes before the chequered flag. However, considering the track conditions it’s understandable most riders didn’t take too much risk and we’ll likely see a revised results list in FP2 this afternoon.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’45.513
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’45.736 0.223 / 0.223
3 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’45.828 0.315 / 0.092
4 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’46.073 0.560 / 0.245
5 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’46.108 0.595 / 0.035
6 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’46.259 0.746 / 0.151
7 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’46.371 0.858 / 0.112
8 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’46.393 0.880 / 0.022
9 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’46.402 0.889 / 0.009
10 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’46.581 1.068 / 0.179
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’46.922 1.409 / 0.341
12 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’46.967 1.454 / 0.045
13 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’47.079 1.566 / 0.112
14 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’47.581 2.068 / 0.502
15 Josh HAYES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’48.037 2.524 / 0.456
16 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing 1’48.382 2.869 / 0.345

Again a good session for Alvaro at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. He started the warmup on the right foot, taking over at the front early and staying there until about eight minutes to end, still posting laptimes close to the lead for the rest of the session. He eventually finished the session in fifth position.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 2’02.338
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 2’02.610 0.272 / 0.272
3 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’02.890 0.552 / 0.280
4 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 2’03.043 0.705 / 0.153
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2’03.175 0.837 / 0.132
6 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2’03.194 0.856 / 0.019
7 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’03.206 0.868 / 0.012
8 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 2’03.403 1.065 / 0.197
9 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 2’03.532 1.194 / 0.129
10 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 2’03.789 1.451 / 0.257
11 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 2’03.867 1.529 / 0.078
12 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2’03.902 1.564 / 0.035
13 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 2’03.960 1.622 / 0.058
14 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 2’04.414 2.076 / 0.454
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2’04.615 2.277 / 0.201
16 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing 2’05.246 2.908 / 0.631
Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing

A good first session for Alvaro at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, expectedly being competitive from the start at what usually is Suzuki’s best track due to the weather conditions and traditionally a good one for Bati’s style as well.

He took a bit longer at the start of the session to get back into the box immediately for a few adjustments, but then quickly broke into the top five, his first fast lap moving him into fourth position. He meandered between fourth and sixth for the rest of the session, being about a second from the fastest laptime until Dani Pedrosa set a scorching lap halfway through which placed him almost a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Alvaro eventually finished in fifth, with a gap of 1.6 seconds to Pedrosa who dominated the proceedings, as the first rider behind the four factory Hondas.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 2’01.916
2 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 2’02.557 0.641 / 0.641
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 2’02.590 0.674 / 0.033
4 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’03.311 1.395 / 0.721
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2’03.558 1.642 / 0.247
6 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 2’03.586 1.670 / 0.028
7 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 2’03.760 1.844 / 0.174
8 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2’03.778 1.862 / 0.018
9 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’03.908 1.992 / 0.130
10 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 2’04.280 2.364 / 0.372
11 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2’04.345 2.429 / 0.065
12 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 2’04.474 2.558 / 0.129
13 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 2’04.521 2.605 / 0.047
14 John HOPKINS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2’04.609 2.693 / 0.088
15 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2’04.666 2.750 / 0.057
16 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 2’04.890 2.974 / 0.224
17 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing 2’05.390 3.474 / 0.500
18 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 2’06.199 4.283 / 0.809

Rain has again paid Phillip Island a visit this morning as dark clouds were hanging over the circuit. But it stopped raining in time before the warmups and the strong wind together with a bit of sunshine helped to dry up the track again rather quickly. Despite not being in perfect conditions the circuit was still good enough for the MotoGP riders to set reasonable laptimes in the warmup.

Alvaro finished the session in 8th after leading the timesheets for the first half of the warmup, but unable to improve in the end. However, he’s only 0.2 seconds behind fourth position, so laptimes are still tight and promise a good battle with several riders later today.

The weather will again be the main concern, even though it’s currently dry and sunny it’s highly likely to start raining again throughout the day.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’31.261
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’31.311 0.050 / 0.050
3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’31.779 0.518 / 0.468
4 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’32.220 0.959 / 0.441
5 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’32.282 1.021 / 0.062
6 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’32.390 1.129 / 0.108
7 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’32.403 1.142 / 0.013
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’32.414 1.153 / 0.011
9 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’32.569 1.308 / 0.155
10 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’32.727 1.466 / 0.158
11 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’33.029 1.768 / 0.302
12 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’33.244 1.983 / 0.215
13 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’33.628 2.367 / 0.384
14 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’33.819 2.558 / 0.191
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’33.840 2.579 / 0.021
16 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’34.436 3.175 / 0.596
Damian CUDLIN Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP

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