BatiFan Blog | The Alvaro Bautista Fan Blog | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

“With the worn tyre I could still feel very comfortable, but I had an early problem. The bike was sliding about and I couldn’t feel at ease riding, so I had to regain my feeling step by step. I wasn’t fully comfortable until the middle of the race; when I caught up with Barberá I saw that he was going faster than me, I decided to let him take me up to the front.
When we got to Hiroshi and Faubel It was difficult to pass because of Aoyama’s late braking, and there were only a couple of places at which I knew that I could pass him. I tried to overtake with two laps to go, but I saw a yellow flag and couldn’t make the move. I got through later on and saw Álex ahead, and knew that catching him would be tough. I was with him on the last lap, but a move would have been risking things. Third is a good result, and Aoyama finished behind me which is important for the title fight.”

With mixed conditions, an initial red flag and then a load of faffing around over tyre choices before the restart, you could be forgiven for being a bit worried about how chaotic the (reduced) run might go, but it turned out pretty well actually, with Alvaro finally coming home a fine, respectable and close third.
Simoncelli was first and Alex Debon just behind, with just 1.2 seconds covering the first five riders over the finish line.
After a lacklustre start, Alvaro soon warmed up – spending most of the race swapping places with Hiroshi Aoyama and Hector Barbera – and finally took Aoyama heading into the first corner, and then went on to break the circuit lap record on the last lap.
Triffick!

CLASSIFIED:

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 27m11.034s
2. Alex Debon Aprilia + 0.479s
3. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia + 0.528s
4. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 0.866s
5. Hector Barbera Aprilia + 1.260s
6. Hector Faubel Honda + 5.972s
7. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia + 8.721s
8. Thomas Luthi Aprilia + 8.762s
9. Raffaele De Rosa Honda + 19.176s
10. R.Locatelli Gilera + 27.950s
11. Alex Baldolini Aprilia + 29.601s
12. Lukas Pesek Aprilia + 38.299s
13. Shoya Tomizawa Honda + 51.940s
14. Jules Cluzel Aprilia + 52.919s
15. Bastien Chesaux Honda +1m06.786s
16. Axel Pons Aprilia +1m20.573s
17. Toby Markham Aprilia + 1 lap
18. Imre Toth Aprilia + 1 lap
19. Joakim Stensmo Honda + 2 laps
20. Valentin Debise Honda + 4 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider | Bike | Laps
Mattia Pasini Aprilia 16
Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 16
Karel Abraham Aprilia 8
Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 0
R.Wilairot Honda DNS

FASTEST LAP: Bautista, 1m24.552s on lap 19

“We made a few changes to the wet set-up for qualifying but I didn’t feel comfortable, to the point that we just went back to the configuration we had last year and I felt better straight away. It is a shame that I ran into a lot of traffic and couldn’t get into a rhythm. I only got on decent lap in but that was enough to get me on the front row. I think if I had the opportunity to get into a flow I could have gone faster.
If it is dry for the warm-up tomorrow I’ll try what we know works – the same geometry we had for the wet at the end of this afternoon, which gives me a better feeling on the front. Whatever the weather tomorrow we’ll be giving it our best shot – we’ll try and get a feeling from the start and run at the front. It is important to be on the front row because the first turn tends to get busy here. It is also a circuit where it is very difficult to pass so the nearer you are to the front of the grid the better.”

After not looking terribly confident for most of the drenched and piddling down Qualifying session for tomorrow’s German GP at the Sachsenring, and possibly seeming a shoe-in for a slot somewhere down on the second row, Alvaro suddenly right at the end bunged in a great lap that puts him up in third behind Dumb & Dumber.
Quite what the weather will bring tomorrow who knows, but hopefully he can ride smart and as usual be aware of the terrible twosome lined up next to him…

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap
1. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1m32.962s
2. Hector Barbera Aprilia 1m33.105s + 0.143s
3. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1m34.246s + 1.284s
4. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 1m34.285s + 1.323s
5. Karel Abraham Aprilia 1m34.312s + 1.350s
6. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1m34.333s + 1.371s
7. Alex Debon Aprilia 1m34.632s + 1.670s
8. Hector Faubel Honda 1m34.660s + 1.698s
9. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1m34.718s + 1.756s
10. Mike di Meglio Aprilia 1m34.804s + 1.842s
11. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1m35.019s + 2.057s
12. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1m35.355s + 2.393s
13. Lukas Pesek Aprilia 1m35.427s + 2.465s
14. Roberto Locatelli Gilera 1m35.637s + 2.675s
15. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1m35.889s + 2.927s
16. Ratthapark Wilairot Honda 1m36.078s + 3.116s
17. Raffaele de Rosa Honda 1m36.097s + 3.135s
18. Shoya Tomizawa Honda 1m36.387s + 3.425s
19. Imre Toth Aprilia 1m36.767s + 3.805s
20. Vladimir Leonov Aprilia 1m36.880s + 3.918s
21. Valentin Debise Honda 1m37.633s + 4.671s
22. Toby Markham Aprilia 1m37.939s + 4.977s
23. Bastien Chesaux Honda 1m39.234s + 6.272s
24. Axel Pons Aprilia 1m40.422s + 7.460s
25. Joakim Stensmo Honda 1m42.138s + 9.176s
26. Robin Halen Aprilia 1m41.581s + 8.619s
27. Marcel Becker Yamaha 1m46.868s + 13.906s

11th Álvaro Bautista 1.25.836 (30 laps):
“We usually have set-up problems at this circuit and today I tried a couple of new configurations, one of which I like quite a lot. Being a second off the pace is a big gap but it could have been worse so we have to stay optimistic and be prepared to improve tomorrow. Sachsenring is a difficult circuit in that the faster you try to ride the slower you end up going, and you find yourself with more and more work to do. Let’s wait and see if we can improve things tomorrow, mainly on the front end. The key to it is in T2 and if we can improve through there we will be much closer. We knew things wouldn’t be easy here and now we’re even more determined to work at it tomorrow. I have confidence in the team and we’ll all give 100% to improve the set-up of the bike for the race.”

“We head to Germany full of motivation and strength, having left with the taste of honey on our lips at the last Grand Prix. We have to respond to what happened there but without losing our heads. Even though we lost the championship lead there is no need to panic because the gap is not a huge one and it is important we just continue to work as we have been doing, picking up as many points as possible.
The Aprilia is perhaps not best suited to the Sachsenring circuit and the Honda will definitely be a more effective package here so we have to work as hard as we can on the set-up to make sure we are ready for Sunday. It is a twisty circuit that is more suited to go-karts than motorcycle racing. I’ve spent the last two weeks relaxing and putting the Assen crash behind me, having taken a heavy blow to my elbow. I’ve also been able to keep up my training regime and stay in good shape.”