Switch From Aspar To ALPO Atlético de Madrid

(*Above: Pere - on number 30 - new team, new colours!)

One minor bombshell that's emerged from the results of Round 5 of the CEV Championships at Albacete is that Pere now appears to have completely switched teams.
Initially when he was replaced in the Aspar WC 125cc squad by Adrian Martin, there was no official talk from the team about him leaving altogether - indeed he was in the box, wearing Aspar colours, at the following race at Misano - and we had assumed that he would continue to compete for the Aspar Team in the Spanish CEV championships, as he had done up to that point.
Something has changed since then though, with a race report on Motociclismo.es containing the following words...

"...después de dejar las filas del Team Aspar y estar ahora defendiendo los colores del ALPO Atlético de Madrid."
This translates roughly as:
"...having left the ranks of the Aspar Team and now racing in the colors of Alpo Atletico de Madrid."

We're surprised at the lack of coverage of the change, and if the split from Aspar is permanent then we're sad, but hope that Pere's career will progress unhindered.
We wish him all the best at the new team - and we hope that we can bring you more news of how he is getting on in due course.

You can find the ALPO Atlético de Madrid team's website here...


(Thanks to Sandra and Tamara with help on this info...)

Pere Replaced By Adrian Martin In World Championship Squad

Having got all excited posting up the San Marino event schedule and everything it's come as something of a shock and a disappointment to find out that we won't be watching Tutu after all...

Team Bancaja Aspar (according to reports at dailymotos.com) has announced that Pere Tutusaus will be replaced in the 125cc World Championship for the remainder of the season by Adrian Martin (although the team will apparently field local rider Patrick Jacobsen at Indy).
This substitution begins this weekend at San Marino, and according to Aspar is to allow Pere to concentrate on his campaign with the team in Spain’s CEV Championship where he currently lies fourth.
Tutu has run as a wildcard in the World Championships five times during 2006 and 2007, and 2008 is his first proper campaign on the team (he has a three year contract with Bancaja Aspar in the World Championship, according to our reading of the Aspar website).
He currently stands in 26th in the Championship, having pulled back some decent race performances from sometimes disappointing qualifyings, but having proven a solid rider - and particularly so in tricky conditions such as France and China.

WE SAY: Whilst it’s clearly a sign that Aspar wants Pere to focus on the CEV title, and of course that title is about the team no just the rider, so it’s hardly surprising, it is nonetheless disappointing that we won’t see Tutu continue to develop and get experience in the world class this year. Personally I can’t help feeling that if he’d been doing a bit better this decision simply wouldn’t have arisen. I hope I’m wrong, but we all know how deeply sport is about politick as much as genuine sporting strategy.
Let’s hope the move is a wise one and that Pere makes the most of his CEV challenge and that the team is swift to bring him back into the World Championship squad...

Pere - Post Race Quotes; Brno

"I am happy because we have solved the problema of the weekend. The setting was hard to find, so today's result was pretty good. I was fast in the race and was able to fight with a group, with some of my CEV rivals.
I had another great start, and that really helped me out. The Aprilia has a lot of acceleration, but we weren't quite Fast enough. I am happy with my pace."

Pere Tutusaus - Sachsenring, Saturday Quote...

31st Pere Tutusaus: 1.29.618 (17 laps):
"I'm a bit gutted because things didn't go well at all for us on wet tyres this morning. We have to look at the telemetry because I think there was something wrong with the bike - the engine was losing power in certain areas of the track.
It is strange because I like the circuit but I can't get comfortable here. The start will be tough because we're a long way down the grid but I'll try my best to put in a good performance."

CEV Round 3, Jerez - Race: Pere Takes Second Place

(*Above - Pere Tutusaus following hard on the tail of Luis Salom at Jerez today)

An excellent result for Pere today in Round 3 of the Spanish CEV Championships, held at Jerez, where he was competing in the 125cc class. Rounding off a superb weekend's performances, our guy followed up his 4th in Qualifying with a great podium position in the race... 2nd.
The race was initially red-flagged following a huge accident which injured four of the riders...
Great going, and hopefully a confidence-boosting weekend ahead of next weekend's MotoGP at Donington.

Brilliant work Pere - Absolutely tops :)

Here's the top ten:

1. Luis Jaime SALOM, APRILIA, 29:49.413
2. Pere TUTUSAUS, APRILIA, 29:49.995
3. Efrén VÁZQUEZ, APRILIA, 29:50.321
4. Lorenzo SAVADORI, APRILIA, 29:52.079
5. Adrián MARTÍN, APRILIA, 30:07.001
6. Alberto MONCAYO, DERBI, 30:11.241
7. Cristian TRABALÓN, APRILIA, 30:11.710
8. Óscar CLIMENT, APRILIA, 30:12.292
9. Julián MIRALLES, APRILIA, 30:12.701
10. Kazuya OTANI, HONDA, 30:17.873

Win a Limited Edition Aspar Jacket with LondonBikers.com

We, who you may or may not know, also run BatiFans.com - The Alvaro Bautista Fan Forum have put another of those excellent limited edition Team Aspar jackets up to be won.
This time we've teamed up with the triffick people over at LondonBikers.com who are offering it up as a prize for a pre-British GP competition with a question so easy that any Alvaro Bautista fan should be able to answer it in their sleep.
We suggest you get over there and enter now to be in with another chance of winning one of these rare and rather cool jackets.
And enjoy a great biking website while you're there too, of course... :D

Click here to go to LondonBikers.com...

Catalunya GP - Event Schedule

Friday Jun 6
125cc :: Free Practice 1 :: 09:00-09:45 
MotoGP :: Free Practice 1 :: 10:00-11:00 
250cc :: Free Practice 1 :: 11:15-12:15 
125cc :: Qualifying 1 :: 13:10-13:40
MotoGP :: Free Practice 2 :: 13:55-14:55 
250cc :: Qualifying 1 :: 15:10-15:55


Saturday June 7
125cc :: Free Practice 2 :: 09:00-09:45 
MotoGP :: Free Practice 3 :: 10:00-11:00 
250cc :: Free Practice 2 :: 11:15-12:15 
125cc :: Qualifying 2 :: 13:10-13:40 
MotoGP :: Qualifying 1 :: 13:55-14:55 
250cc :: Qualifying 2 :: 15:10-15:55


Sunday June 8
125cc :: Warm-Up :: 08:40-09:00 
250cc :: Warm-Up :: 09:10-09:30 
MotoGP :: Warm-Up :: 09:40-10:05 
125cc :: Race :: 11:00-11:45 
250cc :: Race :: 12:30-13:00 
MotoGP :: Race :: 14:00-15:00

(*All times local)

Best Yet For Pere: 12th In Rain-Stricken French GP

A great result for Pere today, as he came home 12th in an eventful French GP run in tricky conditions.
The 125 race was rain-affected, starting dry (with Tutu 29th on the grid) but stopped with 9 of the 24 laps remaining as a shower started and a number of riders started to go down.
Pere was up to 21st by this point and so started from that position for the "second race" of 5 laps (calculated from arcane regs governing interrupted and foreshortened races).
The race was eventually won by Mike Di Meglio, and with an amazing comeback run from a justifiably elated 2nd place guy Bradley Smith.

Today's result puts Pere up to 24th in the overall Championship standings with 5 points.
Job well done Tutu :)

Pere Takes First Point In Shanghai

An excellent, solid ride from Pere Tutusaus today in tricky conditions to bring home his Bancaja Aspar Aprilia in 15th place, taking his first World Championship point.
On a day when quite a few riders were caught out by wet to greasy conditions, he kept his head down and came in safe and sound, whilst other - and more experienced - guys were busy throwing it away.
Superb job; very glad I got up early to see this step forward in his career :)
And I can tell you it's also cheered me up a bit over Alvaro's awful day up in 250...

Here's the results in full...

CLASSIFIED:

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 46:02.275
2. Mike Di Meglio Derbi + 3.355
3. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 3.451
4. Pol Espargaro Derbi + 14.028
5. Stefan Bradl Aprilia + 23.853
6. Joan Olive Derbi + 31.962
7. Michael Ranseder Aprilia + 33.758
8. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 34.696
9. Raffaele De Rosa KTM + 34.838
10. Efren Vazquez Aprilia + 41.011
11. Esteve Rabat KTM + 41.139
12. Marc Marquez KTM + 43.677
13. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM + 53.489
14. Steve Bonsey Aprilia + 54.462
15. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia + 58.706
16. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 59.454
17. D. Agerter Derbi +1:10.704
18. Louis Rossi Honda +1:47.918
19. H. van den Berg Aprilia +1:50.406


NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider | Bike | On lap
R. Krummenacher KTM 16
Scott Redding Aprilia 15
Lorenzo Zanetti KTM 11
Daniel Webb Aprilia 10
Robert Muresan Aprilia 9
Alexis Masbou Loncin 9
Robin Lasser Aprilia 7
R. Lacalendola Aprilia 7
Bradley Smith Aprilia 6
Simone Corsi Aprilia 5
Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 4
Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1

FASTEST LAP: Ranseder, 2:23.432 on lap 19

Picture from China

(*Above: Pere in the box, taking advice from boss & maestro Jorge Martinez)

Pere Tutusaus: Quotes from Portuguese GP

Here's some post-race quotes from Pere, who came in 22nd at Estoril, talking about his performance and how he's moving forward this season...

“I got a good start and made up some positions on the inside but I’m still lacking pace over the opening laps. I didn’t feel comfortable and I think I could have set faster times but I’m happy because I finished the race and I picked up more experience. I hope we can continue to improve in the next race in China and who knows, we might even make up some more positions.”

Let's see how things go at Shanghai...
Nice work Pere :)

Portuguese GP - Estoril - 125cc Results

Classified Results...

Pos | Rider | Bike | Time
1. Simone Corsi Aprilia 40:56.168
2. Joan Olive Derbi + 0.299
3. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 6.355
4. Steve Bonsey Aprilia + 14.973
5. Daniel Webb Aprilia + 15.532
6. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 15.868
7. Mike Di Meglio Derbi + 15.875
8. Stefan Bradl Aprilia + 17.887
9. Sergio Gadea Aprilia + 18.123
10. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 22.613
11. Andrea Iannone Aprilia + 27.490
12. D.Agerter Derbi + 27.544
13. Pol Espargaro Derbi + 28.370
14. Michael Ranseder Aprilia + 28.417
15. Efren Vazquez Aprilia + 32.713
16. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM + 34.002
17. Stefano Bianco Aprilia + 47.698
18. Marc Marquez KTM + 51.637
19. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 51.679
20. Alexis Masbou Loncin + 51.717
21. Scott Redding Aprilia + 1:07.908
22. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia + 1:15.894
23. Dino Lombardi Aprilia + 1:19.975
24. Robert Muresan Aprilia + 1:39.194
25. Cyril Carrillo Honda + 1:39.218
26. Axel Pons Aprilia + 1:43.956
27. Ivan Maestro Aprilia + 1 lap
28. Karel Pesek Aprilia + 1 lap

Pere Tutusaus: Quotes from Jerez GP

As it turned out, Pere Tutusaus had the peculiar distinction of being the only Team Aspar rider to finish in either 125cc or 250cc races at Jerez on Sunday, taking a solid and well-deserved 19th place in the final results.

Even so, Pere was not completely satisfied with his showing, and - according to quotes on dailymotos.com - is aware that could still give more:
“I feel that I am still not at the level that I would like. I feel as if other riders are one step ahead of me. I am a bit disappointed because I wanted to do the very best possible in Jerez. Now I must move on to Portugal. Estoril is a circuit that I know well and on which I hope to do better..."

Whilst it’s understandable he wants to do better, let's bear in mind that he’s still only done 2 *proper* world championship races, so he shouldn’t be too hard on himself.
He’s coming along nicely - and I’ll be only too happy to see him do better and better, but I’ll not be down on him if it takes a few more races yet... :)

Go Pere!

Pere Comes Home 19th at Jerez

Congratulations to Pere on converting his 24th on the grid into a 19th in the final classifications at today's 125cc Grand Prix at Jerez. Good work :)
Here's the results in full...

CLASSIFIED:

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Simone Corsi Aprilia 41:46.100
2. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 3.206
3. Bradley Smith Aprilia + 4.986
4. Stefan Bradl Aprilia + 5.022
5. Pablo Nieto KTM + 6.254
6. Steve Bonsey Aprilia + 20.563
7. Scott Redding Aprilia + 22.517
8. D.Agerter Derbi + 23.002
9. Mike Di Meglio Derbi + 23.928
10. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 33.541
11. Raffaele De Rosa KTM + 33.664
12. Esteve Rabat KTM + 33.987
13. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM + 34.426
14. Pol Espargaro Derbi + 40.038
15. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 44.515
16. Michael Ranseder Aprilia + 45.498
18. Andrea Iannone Aprilia + 53.186
19. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia + 58.037
20. R.Lacalendola Aprilia +1:03.610
22. Ivan Maestro Honda +1:19.599
23. Daniel Saez Aprilia +1:24.990
24. Louis Rossi Honda +1:39.735
25. Alberto Moncayo Derbi +1:48.192
26. Robert Muresan Aprilia + 3 laps


NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Rider Bike On lap
Axel Pons Aprilia 22
Lorenzo Zanetti KTM 14
H.van den Berg Aprilia 12
Joan Olive Derbi 9
Daniel Webb Aprilia 8
Stefano Bianco Aprilia 7
Sergio Gadea Aprilia 6
Efren Vazquez Aprilia 6
Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia 3
Robin Lasser Aprilia DNS

FASTEST LAP: Corsi, 1:47.999 on lap 3

Spanish GP, Jerez, 125cc - Final Qualifying

125cc Final Qualifying Results In Full...
Pere in 25th spot; the session utterly *owned* by ickle Brit Bradley Smith. Awesome job Bradders :)

Pos Rider Bike Time
1. Bradley Smith Aprilia 1:47.587
2. Nicolas Terol Aprilia 1:48.041 +0.454
3. Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1:48.070 +0.483
4. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia 1:48.113 +0.526
5. Simone Corsi Aprilia 1:48.128 +0.541
6. Steve Bonsey Aprilia 1:48.146 +0.559
7. Mike Di Meglio Derbi 1:48.165 +0.578
8. Scott Redding Aprilia 1:48.315 +0.728
9. Daniel Webb Aprilia 1:48.333 +0.746
10. Raffaele De Rosa KTM 1:48.345 +0.758
11. Dominique Agerter Derbi 1:48.348 +0.761
12. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1:48.437 +0.850
13. Pablo Nieto KTM 1:48.441 +0.854
14. Stefano Bianco Aprilia 1:48.481 +0.894
15. Sandro Cortese Aprilia 1:48.510 +0.923
16. Esteve Rabat KTM 1:48.520 +0.933
17. Joan Olive Derbi 1:48.688 +1.101
18. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 1:48.783 +1.196
19. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1:48.791 +1.204
20. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 1:48.799 +1.212
21. Efren Vazquez Aprilia 1:48.907 +1.320
22. Pol Espargaro Derbi 1:49.177 +1.590
23. Axel Pons Aprilia 1:49.357 +1.770
24. Michael Ranseder Aprilia 1:49.392 +1.805
25. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia 1:49.446 +1.859
28. Roberto Lacalendola Aprilia 1:49.879 +2.292
29. Robert Muresan Aprilia 1:49.936 +2.349
30. Hugo van den Berg Aprilia 1:50.161 +2.574
31. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM 1:50.557 +2.970
32. Daniel Saez Aprilia 1:51.362 +3.775
33. Louis Rossi Honda 1:51.894 +4.307
34. Ivan Maestro Honda 1:52.653 +5.066
35. Alberto Moncayo Derbi 1:53.283 +5.696

Quote from Pere; post Qatar GP

Here's some words form Pere, following his p20 in the season opener at Losail.
And really good of him to heap some praise on Sergio Gadea too... Nice touch... :)

"I am quite happy with my result today. We have done a good job and the bike has worked superbly. I think I was lacking a bit of pace, especially in the beginning, but as the laps passed, I felt more comfortable. I am happy after my first GP experience. Now we will have to continue working along these lines and try to improve from race to race.
I would also like to congratulate Sergio, who did an incredible job despite his injury."

Qatar GP - 125cc - Results

Well, Pere completed his first *proper* 125cc race, and it was the ground-breaking first ever night race, under floodlights.
He came in 20th after a fairly invisible performance; the rise from 26th being largely more to do with attrition further up the field than battling and passing.
Still - a first proper race, and a solid if uneventful ride to a solid position.
Well done Pere :)
Hope it's the start of a great and ever-improving 125 MotoGP career!
Here's the classified results in full...

Pos - Rider - Make - Time
1. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 38:09.444
2. Joan Olive Derbi + 0.932
3. Stefan Bradl Aprilia + 1.660
4. Mike Di Meglio Derbi + 1.771
5. Scott Redding Aprilia + 1.819
6. Daniel Webb Aprilia + 7.689
7. Simone Corsi Aprilia + 8.684
8. Pol Espargaro Derbi + 8.693
9. Efren Vazquez Aprilia + 9.054
10. Nicolas Terol Aprilia + 10.902
11. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 10.945
12. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 12.618
13. Stefano Bianco Aprilia + 12.709
14. Andrea Iannone Aprilia + 20.086
15. Michael Ranseder Aprilia + 23.575
16. Bradley Smith Aprilia + 23.890
17. D.Agerter Derbi + 29.406
18. Pablo Nieto KTM + 32.891
19. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia + 33.346
20. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia + 33.649
21. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM + 36.696
22. R.Krummenacher KTM + 36.754
23. Robin Lasser Aprilia + 45.317
24. Esteve Rabat KTM + 56.440
25. Louis Rossi Honda +1:14.502

*************************************************

Not classified:

Rider - Make - On lap
Raffaele De Rosa KTM 15
Dino Lombardi Aprilia 11
H.van den Berg Aprilia 10
Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 8
Steve Bonsey Aprilia 5
R.Lacalendola Aprilia 1
Robert Muresan Aprilia -

*************************************************

Fastest lap:
Redding, 2:05.695 on lap 7

Photos From Practice and QP1

First Pictures From Qatar Night Test

Quote from Pere; Aspar Team Launch 2008

Pere was at the Bancaja Aspar Team 2008 Presentation, held at the Hippodrome de la Zarzuela in Madrid on February 25th, along with fellow 125cc riders Gabor Talmacsi and Sergio Gadea, and 250cc crew Alvaro Bautista and Hector Faubel.
Pere’s the youngest of the team of course, and the newbie - and seems to be looking forward to a challenging first season...
Here’s what he said:
“This is a year to learn and to try and adapt to the bike.
And thanks to Bancaja, I can learn from the best...”