Álvaro Bautista

Álvaro Bautista
Bautista at the 2010 Qatar Grand Prix.
Nationality	Spanish
Born	(1984-11-21) 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) Championships 0 2015 championship position 16th (31 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 104 0 3 1 1 621 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 currently lies 16th in the riders' championship.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career

Bautista at the 2010 Dutch TT.

By season

By class

Races by year

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

References

External links

• Official website

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini MotoGP:   Stefan Bradl (6)   Álvaro Bautista (19) Moto2:   Xavier Siméon (19) Moto3:   Enea Bastianini (33)   Andrea Locatelli (55) Grand Prix motorcycles: Aprilia RS-GP (MotoGP) Kalex (Moto2) Honda NSF250RW (Moto3)