Rizla Suzuki‘s Ãlvaro Bautista had started Day 2 of the 2nd test in Malaysia in confident fashion, testing new engine maps, Ohlins rear dampers, and brand new Marchesini wheels. However, as the morning wore on, the young Spaniard suffered dizziness and headache and had to spend some hours at the Clinica Mobile. Eventually, he took to the track and set a time 0.2s quicker than yesterday and finished 10th on the timesheet.
“It seems like at this moment the bike has better durability than the rider!” joked Bautista after the test. “This has been bad luck to get sick at two consecutive tests. I feel very drained but I am confident that I will be ok tomorrow after maybe 12 hours sleep!”
He continued, “but there was also some positive points today, we tested a new rear swing-arm which improved the rear grip by a reasonable step and also a new engine map which helped the bike punch off the corner better. My best lap was with race distance already completed on the tyres, so for sure I can go quicker with new tyres but today my condition was not the best for a ‘qualifying’ style lap. I’m frustrated but happy.”
“We have improved the Suzuki quite a lot since the end of 2010.”
Also Nobuatsu Aoki was on hand again to help gather data for the team, and completed 46 Laps of the Sepang circuit.
