Following his long and unpleasant journey through hospitals in Doha and Madrid after breaking his left femur two weeks ago, Alvaro’s first target has been to be back at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez this weekend – if only as a spectator to support the team.

His replacement John Hopkins has previously stated that he was delighted to get another chance to ride a MotoGP bike, but that he didn’t want it to happen this way, feeling very sorry for Alvaro and wishing him a fast recovery.
Expectedly Hopkins was stuck to the back end of the field during the first practice session after a long time away from the class, but nevertheless he was pretty close to the riders in front of him.

After another session in the hyperbaric chamber this morning, Alvaro is on his way to Jerez to support John and the team on Saturday and Sunday as well. According to recent Twitter updates from Alvaro his recovery is going well so far, even though of course too slow for his liking, but Dr. Angel Villamor also pointed out that there’s no sense in rushing things since the bone still has to fully heal. The many repeated sessions in the hyperbaric chamber should help speed up this process while Alvaro is gaining mobility in his leg, but still lacking some strength when putting weight on it.

Alvaro’s official fanclub will also again be present at the Spanish circuit in large numbers. Originally planning to travel to Jerez with over 300 fanclub members, the injury and subsequent absence of Alvaro in the race caused some members to cancel, still leaving a total of 278 fans joining the celebrations at the circuit together on the same grandstand.

Source: La Tribuna de Talavera

From the Jerez GP 2010 pre-event where Alvaro and four other MotoGP stars rode with jet skis to the bwin Yacht to play a round of Poker.

Another interview with Alvaro comes from as.com, conducted by Mela Chércoles after the Jerez GP where Alvaro got his first points in the MotoGP class this weekend.

So you got your first points in MotoGP.
Although I finished the race in the top ten, I’m not satisfied, because I didn’t enjoy riding during the race. In the warm up we tested some changes for the bike, but it didn’t work for us in the race and I didn’t feel comfortable from the first lap to the last. The bike pushed me a lot in the corners and I couldn’t turn as I wanted. I tried to make the best out of the situation and was able to catch the group going from 7th to 10th place, finally engaging in a few fights at the end. The race was bittersweet for me, because I finished among the first ten, but I wasn’t comfortable.

Here the points are more costly than in 125cc or 250cc…
[laughs] Yes, and especially when you start badly as I did in Jerez. I did the whole race without being able to enter the corners well and only when the tank emptied I started to feel more comfortable. It was strange, because during the practice I did well with a full tank. In any case, the points are more costly here than they were in 250cc, even with less riders.

How do you cope with not being at the front like you’ve been all the time before?
You have to get used to everything and know what situation you are in. I am in MotoGP to learn, to improve in each race and to get closer to the front. The level is very high and you need to work hard to find some tenths. I am absolutely clear that it will be very difficult for me to be at the front this year. We need to keep working and file away tenth by tenth of the gap to the guys at the front.

Is it more difficult than you imagined?
Whenever you move up from a category where you’ve been at the front, you think that you’ll be able to fight. I thought that it was going to be just a little bit “easier”, in quotation marks, but these are the best riders in the world here and three tenths cover seven riders. You need to go step by step, know how to do what needs to be done and not become obsessed and demoralized when I’m not in the positions I want to be in. I have to work without putting myself under too much pressure.

You’ve already done the first two races. Do you dare to predict this year’s MotoGP champion?
There’s much equality on the track and if I had to put money on it, my bet would be between Lorenzo and Rossi.

Clever answer. You’re really going out on a limb there.
[laughs] There are also Stoner and Pedrosa, so I’ve played with 50% of the favorites.

Interview by Mela Chércoles for as.com.
Translation by the crew of www.alvarobautista.com & www.batifans.com

Rizla Suzuki’s new Spanish star celebrated his debut home Grand Prix with a gutsy ride to secure him his first MotoGP points by finishing in 10th place.

Bautista started from 13th on the grid but by the end of lap two was down to 16th. He struggled early on as he didn’t have the same feeling from his GSV-R that he had during yesterday’s qualifying and practice, but battled through the difficulties and found a good rhythm, to come home as top rookie as he passed Marco Simoncelli on the last lap.

Loris Capirossi ended the day with a huge anti-climax to what looked like being a very promising race. He was up with the battle for the top-six positions and entered the last corner on the third lap, but as he turned in he lost the front of the bike and crashed. Capirossi was unable to continue and walked despondently back to the pits.

Over 120,000 fans enjoyed the warm and sunny weather at Jerez today and also celebrated a Spanish hat-trick of wins, with Jorge Lorenzo victorious in the MotoGP race and Toni Elias and Pol Espargaro winning the Moto2 and 125cc races respectively.

Rizla Suzuki will now remain at Jerez for more day of testing before the whole MotoGP circus heads north to Le Mans in France, for the next round on the calendar in three weeks’ time on Sunday 23rd May.

Álvaro Bautista:
“Yes, I have finished my first race in MotoGP! I was not my best race though, because I didn’t start too good and I had a bit of a problem with the bike. It felt like it was pushing me the wrong way in the corners and I couldn’t turn in properly like I could in practice. Although the bike was not perfect I tried to get the maximum from it and pushed as hard as I could. I got up to the group fighting for seventh to twelfth positions and I was able to pass some of them and that was a good thing. I would like to enjoy riding the bike more, but I am new to this category and it is important to improve the bike before I can do that. Sometimes we go in the right way, but also sometimes we go in the wrong way, so we need to keep trying to improve. Tomorrow we have a big test and we will search hard for a solution to make the GSV-R enjoyable to ride. I am happy to finish in the top 10, this is a good result, but I think if the bike was like practice I could have done better. I am very happy with the whole team, they are all fantastic and they are working very, very hard. I want to thank all of them and also Suzuki and Rizla for all the support.

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It was a tough Grand Prix today, but Álvaro did a great job to come from so far back and catch the fight for seventh place. He didn’t have the best feeling with the bike in the race, but maintained good lap-times and showed fearless aggression in the last couple of laps to pass Edwards and Simoncelli. He now has some points on the board and finished today’s GP in the top-10 and as top rookie, so today’s race is something positive for him to build on.

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Even though we saw almost nothing of it on the TV screens, Alvaro showed another great race effort today, finally securing the 10th place after making up over 3 seconds on the group battling for the places up until 7th place and overtaking Simoncelli in the final lap. With a better start and without the little scrap with Barbera at the beginning of the race he’d been able to comfortably stay and fight in the group for 7th place, but concerning the big gap he made up and looking at his quick race pace, he definitely did a great job today and we are happy that he could finally finish his first race in MotoGP and get the first points in this class. Congratulations, Bati!

Pos Rider Team Time/Gap
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 45m17.538s
2. Dani Pedrosa Honda + 0.543s
3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha + 0.890s
4. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 9.015s
5. Casey Stoner Ducati + 10.034s
6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 23.144s
7. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati + 34.489s
8. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda + 34.687s
9. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda + 36.160s
10. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki + 36.791s
11. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda + 37.155s
12. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha + 38.260s
13. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati + 38.371s
14. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda + 1m02.052s
15. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati + 3 laps

Retirements:

Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 7 laps
Loris Capirossi Suzuki 2 laps

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista have a tough afternoon ahead of them at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday after a difficult qualifying session today.

Capirossi and Bautista started promisingly in the hour-long session this afternoon and were both running in the top-10 during the first half-hour, when most riders were using the harder compound race tyre. Capirossi recorded a fastest lap of 1’40.206, just one second behind pole-setter Dani Pedrosa, but with the closeness of MotoGP qualifying, Suzuki’s Italian star finds himself on the fourth row of the grid in 11th place for the race.

Bautista’s fastest lap of 1’40.416 was his fastest time of the weekend and his progress throughout the day pleased him as he continues to improve his MotoGP riding technique. He will start his first home MotoGP race from 13th on the grid, but will certainly be pushing to get up amongst the pack and give all his Spanish fans something to cheer about on race-day.

Tomorrow’s 27-lap race is the second round of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship and with Spaniards Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo filling the first two grid positions, the huge crowd that will be trackside can expect an exciting event when the race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00GMT).

Álvaro Bautista:
“I have improved on my best time here and we have done quite a good job today. This morning I tried some different settings between the two bikes and in the afternoon we chose one of the set-ups and I am sure it is the right one. With the hard tyre I did a long ride and was quite happy with my time in the mid 1’40s – this is quite positive for me. I still have a few issues after a few laps because I am feeling that the tyre is moving too much, but we will work on that in the warm-up and see what we can do. On the softer rear tyre I tried to push to the maximum, but this is not like 250s, in 250 you can brake much later and with the MotoGP bike it is more difficult to do one fast lap, but I am learning! I am quite happy and want to have a good home race and get into a fight with a group further up the grid. I t is very important to do my best and give a good race for Suzuki, the sponsors and all my family and fans.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Álvaro did a very good 14-lap run at the start of qualifying using race tyres and with a few adjustments his pace looks promising. He’s bunched in a start group with the other 250 guys from last year, so keep your eyes peeled, because I think there will be fireworks on both ends of the grid tomorrow afternoon!”

Source: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

Alvaro will start from the 13th place on the grid yet again after being kicked out of the 4th row in a directly on-track battle with Aoyama in the final seconds of the session.
Laptimes are still very close however and there should be some great battles in the midfield tomorrow.
Read the full story

Only improving his laptime from yesterday slightly it wasn’t a very good practice session for Alvaro overall, running around the back of the field for most of it and losing too much time in the final sector. However, the laptimes are again very close and a few tenths improvement can already mean two rows further up on the grid, so we’re hoping for more good progress in the qualifying this afternoon.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1’39.089
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’39.549 0.460 / 0.460
3 Casey STONER Ducati Marlboro Team 1’39.719 0.630 / 0.170
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’39.917 0.828 / 0.198
5 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1’39.982 0.893 / 0.065
6 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’40.012 0.923 / 0.030
7 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 1’40.092 1.003 / 0.080
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team 1’40.246 1.157 / 0.154
9 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’40.370 1.281 / 0.124
10 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’40.413 1.324 / 0.043
11 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’40.588 1.499 / 0.175
12 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1’40.741 1.652 / 0.153
13 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’40.836 1.747 / 0.095
14 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’40.846 1.757 / 0.010
15 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1’40.925 1.836 / 0.079
16 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’41.065 1.976 / 0.140
17 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1’41.223 2.134 / 0.158