Álvaro Bautista

Álvaro Bautista
Bautista at the 2010 Qatar Grand Prix.
Nationality	Spanish
Born	21 November 1984 Talavera de la Reina, Spain
Current team	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Bike number	19
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2010–present Manufacturers Suzuki (2010–2011) Honda (2012–2014) Aprilia (2015–2016) Championships 0 2015 championship position 16th (31 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 105 0 3 1 1 624 250cc World Championship Active years 2007–2009 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 0 2009 championship position 4th (218 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 49 8 28 9 12 643 125cc World Championship Active years 2002–2006 Manufacturers Honda, Aprilia Championships 1 (2006) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 67 8 18 8 9 545

Álvaro Bautista (born 21 November 1984) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently competes in the MotoGP class of the Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship. Bautista competed for the Suzuki team in his first two years since moving into the class in 2010.^[1] Bautista moved to the Honda-equipped Gresini Racing team starting in the 2012 season^[2] and continued with the team to race Aprilia machinery when the factory returned to MotoGP racing for the 2015 season.

Career

Early years

Born in Talavera de la Reina, Castile-La Mancha, Bautista made his international debut in the 2002 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, also finishing as runner-up in that year's Spanish 125cc road racing national championship. In 2003, he won the 125cc Spanish national championship. Bautista scored his first podium position and fastest lap at Donington Park in his second full season in 2004. In 2006 he won the 125cc World Championship with eight wins, on the MVA Aspar Aprilia.

250s

2007

For the 2007 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, he raced for the Aspar Racing Team in the 250cc class. He took his first 250cc victory at the 2007 Italian Grand Prix at Mugello on June 3, also claiming his maiden 250cc pole position that weekend. A second 250cc victory came at the Estoril on September 16, in the Portuguese Grand Prix, where – having started from sixth on the grid he dropped to twelfth during the first lap to carve his way through the field and eventually take an easy win. He finally ended the 2007 season fourth overall in the Championship, and was subsequently awarded the MotoGP / FIM "Rookie of the Year" Award for the 250cc class.

2008

Bautista in 2008.

Bautista after winning the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.

Having been tipped as the 2008 250cc champion, he finished 6th in the season opener in Qatar. At Jerez he looked set to win before his engine gave out on the final lap causing Marco Simoncelli to hit his bike,^[3] subsequently handing Mika Kallio the win. However, Bautista took his first win of the season at Estoril before he crashed out of the lead in China and Italy, while only finishing 14th in Le Mans.^[4]

In Bautista's home race at the Catalunya circuit he dominated the qualifying sessions, took pole position and led the race from the start, but an error while switching gears in the last lap gave Marco Simoncelli the chance to pass him and left him unable to fight back before the finish line. The British round at Donington marked his fourth pole of the season.^[5] In another fight with Simoncelli, Bautista missed the top spot again after an overly optimistic passing manoeuver by Simoncelli in the penultimate lap, which caused both riders to go wide and allowed Mika Kallio to pass them and snatch the win. A win finally came at Assen, despite an awful start from pole leaving him 8th at the end of lap 1.^[6] He added two more wins at San Marino and Malaysia to finish the season in second place behind Simoncelli.

2009

Bautista started 2009 by taking three of the first five pole positions, without converting any of them into a victory. Wins in Japan and Catalunya, and a run of five successive podium finishes later in the season, left him second behind surprise championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama. He crashed out of fourth place at Estoril due to a gearbox issue, denting his championship hopes.

MotoGP

2010

Bautista moved up to MotoGP for the 2010 season, with the factory Suzuki team. After missing the French Grand Prix due to injury, Bautista made a steady return to the class and finished fifth at the Catalan Grand Prix.^[7]

2011

During practice for the 2011 MotoGP season opener in Qatar, Bautista suffered a broken left femur as a result of a crash at turn 15.^[8] Bautista proved on numerous occasions the potential of the Suzuki GSV-R, and almost claimed podium finishes at several races. His biggest flaw was arguably his tendency to crash, often while fighting for podium positions. He eventually finished the season 13th in the championship standings.

2012

On 9 November 2011, it was announced that Bautista would move to Gresini Racing for the 2012 season.^[2] He replaced the late Marco Simoncelli and the World Superbike bound Hiroshi Aoyama. He would later be joined by Gresini's Moto2 rider Michele Pirro, who would ride a CRT specification FTR-Honda as opposed to Bautista, who would ride a MotoGP specification Honda. Bautista finished each of the first five races inside the top ten; of those races, his best result was sixth place on three occasions. Bautista achieved his first pole position in MotoGP at the British Grand Prix; he finished a tenth of a second clear of Ben Spies and Casey Stoner, who both joined Bautista on the front row.^[9] Bautista could not maintain the lead at the start of the race, after Spies led into the first corner; he recovered to finish in fourth place – behind Jorge Lorenzo, Stoner and Dani Pedrosa – which was his then best result in the MotoGP class.

At Assen, Bautista qualified eighth, but made a slow start and tried to alleviate his losses by braking late for the first turn. He locked the front wheel, and fell from his bike, taking down championship leader Lorenzo in the process. Both bikes slid along the ground, with Lorenzo's throttle jammed open, which blew the engine. Lorenzo lost his 25-point lead in the championship,^[10] after Stoner won the race; Yamaha lodged a complaint with race direction, stating that Bautista's actions were dangerous, and he was thus given a grid penalty for the German Grand Prix – starting last on the grid – for his actions.^[11]

Bautista finished the next five races within the top ten each time, before achieving his first ever MotoGP podium at Misano.^[12] He obtained another podium finish two races later at Motegi, after a race long battle with Briton Cal Crutchlow ended with Crutchlow running out of fuel before the race finish.^[13]

2013

In 2013 Bautista continued riding for Team Gresini, with a new sponsor (GO & FUN) and teammate Bryan Staring. Bautista had a good season, battling consistently amongst the second group of riders, along with Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow and Stefan Bradl. He finished sixth overall in the championship behind Crutchlow and in front of Bradl, with a best result of fourth obtained on three occasions, at Laguna Seca,^[14] Aragon^[15] and Motegi.^[16]

2014

For the 2014 season, Bautista was joined by new team-mate Scott Redding, but had a difficult start to the 2014 season, crashing out of each of the first three events on the calendar. He obtained his first championship points of the season with a sixth place in the Spanish Grand Prix, at Jerez.^[17] This was followed by a third-place finish in the French Grand Prix, his first podium since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix.^[18]

2015

For the 2015 season, Bautista remained with the Gresini team – now riding an Aprilia – where he was joined by new team-mate Marco Melandri. At the midway point of the season, Bautista had collected 13 points, and finished 16th in the riders' championship with 31 points.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career

Bautista at the 2010 Dutch TT.

By season

Season	Class	Moto	Team	Races	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	Position
2002	125cc	Aprilia	Atletico Madrid Aprilia	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2003	125cc	Aprilia	Seedorf Racing	16	0	0	0	0	31	20th
2004	125cc	Aprilia	Seedorf Racing	16	0	4	0	1	129	7th
2005	125cc	Honda	Seedorf Tiempo Holidays	16	0	0	0	1	47	15th
2006	125cc	Aprilia	Master – MVA	16	8	14	8	7	338	1st
2007	250cc	Aprilia	Master MVA Aspar Team	17	2	7	1	1	181	4th
2008	250cc	Aprilia	Mapfre Aspar Team	16	4	11	5	7	244	2nd
2009	250cc	Aprilia	Mapfre Aspar Team	16	2	10	3	4	218	4th
2010	MotoGP	Suzuki	Rizla Suzuki	17	0	0	0	0	85	13th
2011	MotoGP	Suzuki	Rizla Suzuki	15	0	0	0	0	67	13th
2012	MotoGP	Honda	San Carlo Honda Gresini	18	0	2	1	0	178	5th
2013	MotoGP	Honda	GO&Fun Honda Gresini	18	0	0	0	0	171	6th
2014	MotoGP	Honda	GO&Fun Honda Gresini	18	0	1	0	1	89	11th
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	18	0	0	0	0	31	16th
2016	MotoGP	Aprilia	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1	0	0	0	0	3*	13th*
Total				221	16	49	18	22	1812

* Season still in progress.

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125cc	2002–2006	2002 Spain	2004 Great Britain	2006 Spain	67	8	18	8	9	545	1
250cc	2007–2009	2007 Qatar	2007 Spain	2007 Italy	49	8	28	9	12	643	0
MotoGP	2010–2016	2010 Qatar	2012 San Marino		105	0	3	1	1	624	0
Total	2002–Present				221	16	49	18	22	1812	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2002	125cc	Aprilia	JPN	RSA	SPA 25	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL 23			NC	0
2003	125cc	Aprilia	JPN 18	RSA 25	SPA 17	FRA Ret	ITA 28	CAT 28	NED Ret	GBR 14	GER Ret	CZE 16	POR 15	BRA 16	PAC 12	MAL 15	AUS 4	VAL 6			20th	31
2004	125cc	Aprilia	RSA 9	SPA Ret	FRA 9	ITA Ret	CAT 6	NED 16	BRA 9	GER 7	GBR 2	CZE 13	POR 5	JPN Ret	QAT 3	MAL 3	AUS 9	VAL 3			7th	129
2005	125cc	Honda	SPA Ret	POR 7	CHN 17	FRA Ret	ITA 12	CAT 14	NED 4	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CZE 12	JPN 9	MAL 26	QAT 22	AUS 16	TUR 12	VAL 12			15th	47
2006	125cc	Aprilia	SPA 1	QAT 1	TUR 2	CHN 3	FRA 4	ITA 2	CAT 1	NED 3	GBR 1	GER 2	CZE 1	MAL 1	AUS 1	JPN 2	POR 1	VAL 4			1st	338
2007	250cc	Aprilia	QAT Ret	SPA 2	TUR 3	CHN 2	FRA 8	ITA 1	CAT 5	GBR Ret	NED 3	GER 17	CZE 5	RSM 8	POR 1	JPN 15	AUS 2	MAL Ret	VAL Ret		4th	181
2008	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 6	SPA Ret	POR 1	CHN 12	FRA 14	ITA Ret	CAT 2	GBR 3	NED 1	GER 3	CZE 2	RSM 1	IND C	JPN 2	AUS 2	MAL 1	VAL 3		2nd	244
2009	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 7	JPN 1	SPA 2	FRA 4	ITA 3	CAT 1	NED Ret	GER 3	GBR 2	CZE 3	IND 3	RSM 3	POR Ret	AUS 10	MAL Ret	VAL 2			4th	218
2010	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT Ret	SPA 10	FRA DNS	ITA 14	GBR 12	NED 14	CAT 5	GER Ret	USA Ret	CZE Ret	IND 8	RSM 8	ARA 8	JPN 7	MAL 5	AUS 12	POR 11	VAL 9	13th	85
2011	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT DNS	SPA	POR 13	FRA 12	CAT 12	GBR 5	NED 11	ITA 13	GER 7	USA Ret	CZE Ret	IND 6	RSM 8	ARA 6	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	MAL C	VAL Ret	13th	67
2012	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 7	SPA 6	POR 6	FRA 10	CAT 6	GBR 4	NED Ret	GER 7	ITA 10	USA 8	IND 5	CZE 6	RSM 3	ARA 6	JPN 3	MAL 6	AUS 5	VAL 4	5th	178
2013	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 6	AME 8	SPA 6	FRA 6	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 7	GER 5	USA 4	IND 6	CZE 5	GBR 5	RSM 7	ARA 4	MAL 5	AUS 5	JPN 4	VAL 5	6th	171
2014	MotoGP	Honda	QAT Ret	AME Ret	ARG Ret	SPA 6	FRA 3	ITA 8	CAT Ret	NED 7	GER 9	IND Ret	CZE 10	GBR Ret	RSM 8	ARA 7	JPN 10	AUS 6	MAL Ret	VAL 16	11th	89
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia	QAT Ret	AME 15	ARG 19	SPA 15	FRA 15	ITA 14	CAT 10	NED 17	GER 14	IND 18	CZE 13	GBR 10	RSM 15	ARA 13	JPN 16	AUS 14	MAL 15	VAL 14	16th	31
2016	MotoGP	Aprilia	QAT 13	ARG 10	AME 11	SPA Ret	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	AUT	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	15th*	14*

* Season still in progress.

References

1. "Bautista confirmed at Suzuki for 2010". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). 16 August 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
2. "Team San Carlo Honda Gresini — Alvaro Bautista and San Carlo Honda Gresini together in 2012". gresiniracing.com (Gresini Racing). 9 November 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
3. "Kallio takes surprise 250cc victory after Bautista-Simoncelli crash". motogp.com (Dorna Sports). 30 March 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
4. "Double victory for Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama". ktm.com (KTM). 4 May 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
5. Hull, Rob (21 June 2008). "Alvaro Bautista secured fourth 250 pole of the season". Motorcycle News (Bauer Media Group). Retrieved 6 April 2010.
6. "Spain's Bautista wins 250cc GP category". Google (Agence France-Presse). 28 June 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
7. "Bautista stars for home GP fifth". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 5 July 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
8. "Bautista has successful surgery on left femur". motogp.com (Dorna Sports). 18 March 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
9. Barretto, Lawrence (16 June 2012). "Alvaro Bautista takes shock Silverstone pole". BBC Sport (BBC). Retrieved 17 June 2012.
10. Rostance, Tom (30 June 2012). "Casey Stoner level with Jorge Lorenzo after Assen win". BBC Sport (BBC). Retrieved 1 July 2012.
11. "Bautista penalized after Lorenzo collision". MotoGP.com (Dorna Sports). 30 June 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
12. "Alvaro Bautista dedicates rostrum finish to Marco Simoncelli". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 16 September 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
13. "All-Spanish podium in Japanese MotoGP". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 15 October 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
14. "US MotoGP: Bautista: It doesn't get closer than that". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 22 July 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
15. "Aragon MotoGP: Honourable defeat for battling Bautista". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 30 September 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
16. "Japanese MotoGP: Bautista 'Good finish to a chaotic weekend'". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 28 October 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
17. "Spain MotoGP: Bautista completes first race of season". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 5 May 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
18. "Le Mans MotoGP: Bautista savours first podium since 2012". Crash.net (Crash Media Group). 19 May 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

External links

• Official website