Alvaro’s Title Challenge Ends In Sepang Gravel

Well, that’s basically it for this year. Alvaro’s title hopes ended this morning in the Sepang gravel, and even though he’ll surely be longing to deliver a win at Valencia to his fans it’s going to be little comfort in a season that had promised so much.
Whilst many of us always believed the initial “cert” status he seemed to be given for the title was unrealistic, we couldn’t have predicted the way the momentum and opportunity would desert him in the latter half of the season where mechanical failures, poor luck and – let’s be honest – unnecessary errors – combined to decimate his challenge.
It’s a shame as it would have been good to see him take a 250 title – and indeed, the last 250 title – before moving up to MotoGP and what must surely be another challenging season.
But it wasn’t to be.

RACE REPORT:

At 13:15 local time the lunchtime 250cc race took centre stage in Malaysia. The penultimate round of the series saw a surprise leader in the early stages, as Jules Cluzel took charge from the start. The favourites for victory were soon back in the picture, however, as the race pace upped rapidly under the sweltering heat. Hiroshi Aoyama clocked a new circuit record of 2′07.597, before tyres started to wear away and falls became a regular occurrence. That favoured a break for the top three, with Aoyama eventually taking victory. He holds the advantage in the overall standings, as the class becomes the only one of the three not to have a victor already decided.
 
Mapfre riders Mike di Meglio and Álvaro Bautista had a productive weekend that turned sour come Sunday. Once again the two were the victims of a certain amount of misfortune, and both hit the asphalt in race-ending crashes that ruined the hard work put in over the previous two days.
Alvaro made another bad start and worked hard at making a comeback through the field to try and take the lead. One lap after Di Meglio’s fall, it was Bautista who lost the front end on turn nine, ending his race and any chance of a title push.

Álvaro Bautista (DNF):
“Things were going more or less fine, and I had hooked up to the lead group after making up some places. I felt comfortable riding and wasn’t going at full gas, saving a little for the final push. This track is very demanding, and I wanted to be able to seize my opportunity and take the lead when it came around. My goal was to stay in the pack until then. I hit the bakes before going into turn nine, and I crossed the bars and was unable to avoid the crash. It is a pity, because in three races our chance of the title has gone up in smoke, as we gave our all but had some horrible luck. In Valencia I will try to enjoy the last race at home, and look to give the fans a good result to finish off the year.”

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 42m55.689s
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 6.397s
3. Marco Simoncelli Gilera + 6.397s
4. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 14.871s
5. Hector Faubel Honda + 19.177s
6. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda + 19.567s
7. Alex Debon Aprilia + 20.255s
8. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 34.561s
9. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 50.937s
10. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 1m04.186s
11. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia + 1m08.917s
12. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 1m10.616s
13. Valentin Debise Honda + 1m17.945s
14. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia + 1m29.669s
15. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia + 1m43.536s
16. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 1 lap

Alvaro Secures 5th Spot On Sepang Grid

Lap times were incredibly close for the 250cc class again today, with the top eleven separated by just a second in this afternoon’s single qualifying practice for Malaysian Grand Prix. It made for an exciting session in which pole position wasn’t decided until the very last moment, with slipstreams in the final section vital. In the end it was series leader Hiroshi Aoyama who snatched top spot ahead of French rookies Mike Di Meglio and Jules Cluzel, and Spanish pair Hector Barberá and Álvaro Bautista in the intense heat of Sepang.
Alvaro set a solid pace and also topped the time sheets for a spell before settling for fifth place on the grid.    

 
5th Alvaro Bautista 2.07.371 (17 laps):
“It’s a shame we missed out on the front row but the lap times are there and our rhythm is good. Luckily Mike was able to make the most of my slipstream so at least the team benefited. I crashed this morning when we were experimenting with things so in the afternoon we stuck to what we thought worked best and just focused on putting a pace together without sending ourselves crazy. There isn’t a lot of difference between the guys at the front and it’s going to be a close and hard race tomorrow because of the heat. We have to make sure we stay in touch from the start because any kind of fight-back is dangerous in these conditions. The set-up isn’t perfect but we are ready to race.”

Pos. Rider Team Lap time Gap
1 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′06.767
2 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 2′07.099 0.332
3 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 2′07.232 0.465
4 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 2′07.301 0.534
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 2′07.371 0.604
6 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 2′07.662 0.895
7 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 2′07.828 1.061
8 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 2′07.916 1.149
9 Thomas LUTHI Emmi – Caffe Latte 2′07.949 1.182
10 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′07.953 1.186
11 Alex DEBON Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 2′07.998 1.231
12 Mattia PASINI Paddock GP Racing Team 2′08.159 1.392
13 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 2′08.836 2.069
14 Alex BALDOLINI WTR San Marino Team 2′08.841 2.074
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2′08.908 2.141
16 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto – GP250 2′09.148 2.381
17 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly – CP 2′09.336 2.569
18 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 2′09.392 2.625
19 Shuhei AOYAMA Racing Team Germany 2′09.654 2.887
20 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 2′11.611 4.844
21 Bastien CHESAUX Matteoni Racing 2′11.941 5.174
22 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto – GP250 2′12.171 5.404
23 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 2′12.813 6.046
24 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 2′14.831 8.064

Alvaro On Friday Practice, Sepang

The 250cc riders took to the Sepang Circuit in searing heat late this afternoon as the Malaysian Grand Prix got underway in typically tricky conditions. An unusual session saw a variety of different riders take their turn at the top of the time sheets before series leader Hiroshi Aoyama took control. However, with the top eight riders separated by only a second it is unclear whether the Honda rider will be able to withstand the Aprilia onslaught until the end of Sunday’s race.
 Alvaro has started out at Sepang with the same attitude and hunger he showed at Phillip Island a week ago, continually improving his lap times until a rear grip problem emerged in the second half of the session. However, after setting the fifth fastest time today and in the knowledge that only a win will do on Sunday in order to keep his title hopes alive the Spaniard is refusing to throw the towel in just yet.

5th – Alvaro Bautista – 2.08.159 (20 laps):
“I felt comfortable with the bike as soon as I went out on the track today and my feeling was good. The only thing was that the bike was running wide in a few corners and when I tried to pull it back in I was losing the rear. We worked hard on sorting it out and by the end I think we found the way forward. I’m more or less happy with the result because it’s only the first day and we’re only a couple of tenths off the fastest lap. The pace is on lap record and we’re there with the frontrunners, so hopefully the weather holds out tomorrow and allows us to continue improving. As far as I’m concerned I think the more riders are fighting for the win on Sunday the better for me, because that would help us. Having said that it is difficult to make any predictions when the conditions are like this and racing is very different to practice. Holding that pace for so many laps is not easy.”

Malaysian GP: FP1 Results, 250cc

Pos | Rider | Team | Laptime | Gap
1 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′07.875
2 Alex DEBON Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 2′07.888 0.013
3 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 2′07.927 0.052
4 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 2′07.973 0.098
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 2′08.159 0.284
6 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 2′08.285 0.410
7 Mattia PASINI Paddock GP Racing Team 2′08.763 0.888
8 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly – CP 2′08.852 0.977
9 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 2′09.120 1.245
10 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 2′09.137 1.262
11 Thomas LUTHI Emmi – Caffe Latte 2′09.159 1.284
12 Hector FAUBEL Honda SAG 2′09.209 1.334
13 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 2′09.635 1.760
14 Alex BALDOLINI WTR San Marino Team 2′09.804 1.929
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 2′09.816 1.941
16 Shuhei AOYAMA Racing Team Germany 2′09.858 1.983
17 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 2′10.001 2.126
18 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto – GP250 2′10.072 2.197
19 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 2′12.612 4.737
20 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto – GP250 2′12.919 5.044
21 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 2′13.159 5.284
22 Bastien CHESAUX Matteoni Racing 2′13.265 5.390
23 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 2′13.414 5.539
24 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 2′14.116 6.241

Malaysian GP Preview & Alvaro Quotes

The MotoGP World Championship paddock leaves behind the fresh spring temperatures of Australia this week and heads for the heat of Malaysia, host to the fourth and final back-to-back race of the season. The 250cc World Championship title chase approaches an exciting conclusion, with 50 points still up for grabs and the series leader seemingly running out of steam in the crucial part of the season. His rivals are closing in and everything points to a final-race decider at Valencia in two weeks’ time.
 
Meanwhile, our guy Alvaro heads into the Malaysian round hoping for a turnaround in his recent fortunes, having come away empty handed from the last race but one in Portugal following a crash and then suffering another crash when throwing caution to the wind with a stirring challenge for victory in Australia. Having at least been able to return to the track and score points in tenth place at Phillip Island, his hopes of winning the title are still alive although only just, with a 29-point gap to the top and just two races remaining. However, Álvaro will continue to throw everything he has at the cause from the opening practice session on Friday at Sepang, where he hopes to revitalise his season with a victory.

Words from Bati on the weekend ahead…
“Luck hasn’t been on our side over the past couple of races. I guess that in this sport, as in any other, you have to prepare yourself properly and believe you can win but you also need a touch of luck too. After Portugal I was sure that we couldn’t hold anything back in the races that remained, that it was time to take a few risks and that’s what we did in Australia. The gamble didn’t pay off but we can’t lose heart. Sepang is another circuit I love and I know that the Aprilia can perform much better than the Honda here, so we have to make the most of it. The championship is a very slim possibility but it is still a possibility and we have nothing to lose, so we’ll just give it our best shot every time we go out onto the track and try everything we can to win the last two races.”

Australian GP: Alvaro Post-Race Quotes

“After the problems that we had in the practices and the work that we had to put in to get back up to the front, it was a pity that I fell. This morning we made an adjustment to the bike and I fell, meaning that I couldn’t assess the change fully even though I had felt good. Everything was going great in the race, and I saw that I was strong.
I had rear tyre problems that caused me to slide around, but I still tried to put it all on the line and take some risks. I only wanted to win, second place was not enough. The finale leaves a bittersweet taste, but at least I can say that I gave my all. Even with everything in place for a good ride, sometimes you need a bit of luck on your side, and for the second consecutive GP we didn’t have that.
It is a pity, because the title is now even further away, but we just have to think that the next two races can go our way, and we can do much better.”

Australian GP: 250cc Results

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 28m17.403s
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 2.434s
3. Raffaele De Rosa Honda + 2.604s
4. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 12.118s
5. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia + 12.192s
6. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 12.413s
7. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 12.455s
8. Hector Faubel Honda + 13.112s
9. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda + 13.560s
10. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 27.779s
11. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 28.222s
12. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 28.657s
13. Alex Debon Aprilia + 33.892s
14. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 38.779s
15. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 40.529s
16. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia +1m23.200s
17. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia +1m24.298s
18. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
19. Valentin Debise Honda + 1 lap

Alvaro Reflects On Difficult Qualifying

“This obviously isn’t the result I was hoping for. We had some problems with the rear of the bike yesterday and this morning it was the same story. In the afternoon it looked like we’d improved it a little but I’m still not comfortable. We tried a hard front tyre but it didn’t work as we’d hoped. It makes the bike very stable in the direction changes but we need to adapt the chassis to it and make the whole thing run sweeter. We can’t throw the towel in yet – we have to keep working and do everything we can to improve and make sure we’re in a position to try and fight back in the race tomorrow.”

Alvaro In 10th For Sunday’s Race

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap
1. Raffaele de Rosa Honda 1m33.389s
2. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1m33.614s + 0.225
3. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1m33.633s + 0.244
4. Alex Debon Aprilia 1m33.886s + 0.497
5. Hector Barbera Aprilia 1m33.928s + 0.539
6. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 1m34.030s + 0.641
7. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda 1m34.114s + 0.725
8. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1m34.192s + 0.803
9. Hector Faubel Honda 1m34.285s + 0.896
10. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1m34.588s + 1.199
11. Karel Abraham Aprilia 1m34.727s + 1.338
12. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1m34.921s + 1.532
13. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1m35.016s + 1.627
14. Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1m35.018s + 1.629
15. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1m35.374s + 1.985
16. Shuhei Aoyama Honda 1m35.387s + 1.998
17. Roberto Locatelli Gilera 1m36.114s + 2.725
18. Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1m36.711s + 3.322
19. Axel Pons Aprilia 1m36.860s + 3.471
20. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 1m36.901s + 3.512
21. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia 1m37.525s + 4.136
22. Valentin Debise Honda 1m37.984s + 4.595
23. Imre Toth Aprilia 1m38.346s + 4.957
24. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia 1m38.893s + 5.504

Australian GP: Alvaro Friday Quotes

“It was pretty windy today and to be honest I noticed it a lot. I had a few problems in some of the corners, where I had no feeling for the bike. It was moving around a lot in the exits and I couldn’t open the throttle. We worked on both bikes but the second one, which had a different chassis configuration, didn’t work as we had hoped. Anyway, we have to work with what we have and the conditions we’re faced with. Hopefully we can improve tomorrow because this wasn’t a good start. Apart from Barberá the rest of us are within a second so I guess we’ll all be looking to improve. This is the kind of circuit where a few small changes can gain you a lot of time. It’s only the first session and we have plenty of work to do to make me more comfortable on the bike.”

Alvaro Languishing In 12th In Friday Session

Alvaro had something of a frustrating Friday at Phillip Island not getting comfortable with his bike in the windy conditions. It’s not by any means a “bad” circuit for him, so let’s hope this is just a minor issue and he can get things properly lined up tomorrow…

Pos | Nº | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Laps | km/h
1 40 Héctor Barberá Aprilia 1′34.338 17 169.738
2 35 Raffaele De Rosa Honda 1′34.911 0.573 24 168.713
3 16 Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1′34.927 0.589 24 168.685
4 63 Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 1′35.013 0.675 23 168.532
5 55 Hector Faubel Honda 1′35.085 0.747 25 168.405
6 75 Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1′35.119 0.781 23 168.344
7 14 R.Wilairot Honda 1′35.132 0.794 24 168.321
8 6 Alex Debon Aprilia 1′35.150 0.812 21 168.290
9 17 Karel Abraham Aprilia 1′35.219 0.881 27 168.168
10 58 Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1′35.318 0.980 25 167.993
11 4 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1′35.535 1.197 29 167.611
12 19 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1′35.759 1.421 26 167.219
13 52 Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1′35.849 1.511 25 167.062
14 12 Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1′36.002 1.664 30 166.796
15 73 Shuhei Aoyama Honda 1′36.107 1.769 27 166.614
16 25 Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1′36.220 1.882 24 166.418
17 15 R.Locatelli Gilera 1′36.884 2.546 26 165.278
18 11 Balázs Németh Aprilia 1′37.791 3.453 27 163.745
19 10 Imre Toth Aprilia 1′38.222 3.884 25 163.026
20 7 Axel Pons Aprilia 1′38.609 4.271 29 162.386
21 53 Valentin Debise Honda 1′38.817 4.479 25 162.044
22 48 Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1′38.971 4.633 24 161.792
23 56 Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 1′39.002 4.664 19 161.742
24 8 Bastien Chesaux Aprilia 1′39.778 5.440 22 160.484

Alvaro Quotes: Estoril, Sunday

“The weekend was going pretty well; we’d done a good job and I was feeling comfortable on the bike. I had a good start and was up at the front, with the idea being not to push too hard and to preserve the tyres. This morning we had experienced some tyre wear issues. My goal was to keep calm at the start and then push on later in the race, and things were going perfectly when I was up front and Aoyama was not progressing.
The problem came when I had an engine issue and had my rear wheel jammed on the back straight -I couldn’t do anything. The title seems a big ask now after this setback, we will need a little bit of luck, but I have nothing to lose and can go all-out in the final races to at least say that we gave it our best shot and left nothing behind.”

Portuguese GP: 250cc Race Result

CLASSIFIED:

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 44m04.298s
2. Mike Di Meglio Aprilia + 5.317s
3. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 5.317s
4. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 12.024s
5. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 14.349s
6. R.Wilairot Honda + 18.256s
7. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 27.631s
8. Mattia Pasini Aprilia + 34.667s
9. Alex Debon Aprilia + 45.410s
10. Karel Abraham Aprilia + 45.891s
11. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 46.204s
12. Shuhei Aoyama Honda + 57.641s
13. Valentin Debise Honda +1m21.309s
14. Alex Baldolini Aprilia +1m35.277s
15. Axel Pons Aprilia + 1 lap
16. Balazs Nemeth Aprilia + 1 lap
17. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia + 1 lap
18. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
19. C.Moretti Aprilia + 2 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider | Bike | Laps
Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 24
Shoya Tomizawa Honda 12
R.Locatelli Gilera 9
Raffaele De Rosa Honda 7
Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 4
Hector Faubel Honda 4

FASTEST LAP: Simoncelli, 1m40.863s on lap 17