undertaking 65 laps in total and heading the timesheet with a best effort of 2’00.496.
The Spaniard has bounced back well from a collarbone earlier in the year in testing in Valencia and appears to be 100% ready for this weekend’s season-opening Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar, unlike World Champion
who is a major doubt for round one having missed this test due to a last-minute scaphoid injury.
“I think we did a pretty good job here and we tested a lot with the engine, so that we can get round the corners more quickly. We also tested some different tyres and we now know roughly what will work best, depending on the conditions. The most important thing is that we have plenty of data for Sunday’s race. I have got that good feeling back with the bike and at the end of all these tests I am enjoying my riding.”
Bautista’s new team-mate Mike di Meglio, meanwhile, was fourth fastest on the final night in Qatar, the 125cc World Champion registering a best time around half a second off the pace of his Mapfre Aspar colleague.
Between the two Aspar riders on the timesheet were second fastest participant Hiroshi Aoyama on the Scot Racing Team Honda and third placed Héctor Barberá on the Pepe World Team Aprilia. Metis Gilera’s Roberto Locatelli completed the top five.
Best 250cc times – Tuesday night Qatar test
1. Alvaro BAUTISTA 2’00.496
2. Hiroshi AOYAMA 2’00.873
3. Hector BARBERA 2’00.922
4. Mike DI MEGLIO 2’00.946
5. Roberto LOCATELLI 2’01.061
6. Karel ABRAHAM 2’01.094
7. Raffaele DE ROSA 2’01.129
8. Thomas LUTHI 2’01.152
9. Mattia PASINI 2’01.170
10. Ratthapark WILAIROT 2’01.222
11. Alex DEBON 2’01.563
12. Jules CLUZEL 2’01.719
13. Gabor TALMACSI 2’01.772
14. Lukas PESEK 2’01.797
15. Alex BALDOLINI 2’02.249
16. Hector FAUBEL 2’02.293
17. Shoya TOMIZAWA 2’02.781
18. Imre TOTH 2’03.733
19. Axel PONS 2’05.293
20. Vladimir LEONOV 2’06.892
21. Aitor RODRIGUEZ 2’08.559
22. Bastien CHESAUX 2’10.020
RACING TEAM TOTH/ Almeria teszt 2. nap
