Looking at the time sheets, you might think that Alvaro Bautista was disappointed with his weekend in Estoril. But the Rizla Suzuki rider is happy with his efforts, and amazed by how quickly he was able to get back onto the track after breaking his femur a little more than a month ago.
Bautista completed the 28 lap race on Sunday, finishing in 13th place, nearly a minute and a half behind Dani Pedrosa. But the important thing for the Rizla Suzuki team is that Bautista did finish. He even put in a few laps on Monday despite the pain in his leg.
“My leg was really sore today - as I expected - but it was good enough to do four laps at a time and I really wanted to understand this new chassis, so I have to forget the pain and do some work, this is the life of a racer,” Bautista said. “Anyway, I am happy I tried it because – at least at this track – the step was quite big.”
Bautista did 17 laps on Monday, and was able to better his lap time from Sunday’s race by more than a second. After Bautista had enough of the pain, factory test rider Nobuatsu Aoki took over testing duties.
“The turning of the bike is improved a lot, this means I can open the gas much quicker and improve my corner speed and acceleration,” Bautista said. “The lap-time came a lot more easily with this chassis and when I followed Lorenzo, who was making low 1.38 at this point, we were really similar on the whole lap until we arrived in the slow chicane at the end of the circuit, then he disappeared because it’s just too painful to throw the bike through this direction change like I need to.
“Apart from the actual position in the race - I achieved everything I wanted to here in Estoril so I am happy, and I will be stronger in Le Mans.”
“Thanks again to everyone at Rizla Suzuki for supporting me so well, and thanks to Suzuki in Japan for working so hard to improve the bike. It’s been a difficult few weeks but I am looking forward very positively – there are many races left to show what we can do!”
