Álvaro Bautista was pleased with himself after managing several laps in the Estoril test session on Monday. The Spaniard, who returned to racing a day earlier, is continuing to recover from the crash which broke his thigh bone in Qatar.
“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,” said the Suzuki rider. “So I have to forget the pain and do some work – that’s the life of a racer!
“Anyway, I am happy I tried it because – at least at this track – the step was quite big. The turning of the bike has improved a lot, which means I can open the gas much quicker and improve my corner speed and acceleration.
“The lap time came a lot more easily with this chassis and when I followed Lorenzo, who was doing low 1.38s at that point, we were really similar for the whole lap until we arrived at the slow chicane at the end of the circuit - then he disappeared because it’s just too painful to throw the bike through that direction change like I need to.
“But – apart from the actual position in the race – I’ve achieved everything I wanted to here in Estoril, so I’m happy and will be stronger at Le Mans.”
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| Pos. | Time | Laps | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  M. Simoncelli | 01:36.211 | 70 |
| 2. | J. Lorenzo | 01:36.316 | 91 |
| 3. | C. Stoner | 01:36.602 | 49 |
| 4. | C. Crutchlow | 01:36.850 | 71 |
| 5. | V. Rossi | 01:37.382 | 82 |
| 6. | C. Edwards | 01:37.410 | 51 |
| 7. | B. Spies | 01:37.421 | 69 |
| 8. | A. Dovizioso | 01:37.460 | 63 |
| 9. | N. Hayden | 01:37.463 | 89 |
| 10. | D. Pedrosa | 01:37.679 | 17 |
| Full results | |||
| Álvaro Bautista | |||
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| More Álvaro Bautista photos | |||
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