Alvaro Bautista is desperate to put his Motegi disappointment behind him when MotoGP arrives in Melbourne this weekend. The Spaniard ran as high as third at one point before crashing out of fourth on lap 14, throwing away what would've been Rizla Suzuki's best result of the year.
Two weeks on, Bautista is refreshed and ready to repay the team's hard work by putting the bike in the top six this weekend.
“I was very disappointed and upset at the end of the race in Japan, because we deserved to hold on to that result after all the hard work everyone has put in. We have to take all the positives from that weekend, and the previous races, and keep working in that same frame of mind in Australia. I know this will be a completely different challenge, but the bike is now working well in all conditions and this weekend will show us how far we have come this season. I missed out on a top-10 at Phillip Island by less than a hundredth-of-a-second last year and I'm sure we can certainly go much better than that this weekend. You never know what the weather will do at Phillip Island, but we're ready no matter what happens!”
The Iveco Australian Grand Prix weekend gets underway with FP1 at 01:10am on Friday morning. As ever, The Checkered Flag will have full coverage throughout the weekend.