Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista has made a return to the seat of his Suzuki GSV-R, just two weeks after breaking his left femur in a high-speed crash. The Spanish star visited his home Grand Prix in Jerez last weekend and, behind the closed doors of the team’s pit-box, Bautista could not resist getting into the riding position on the prototype MotoGP machine after his crash at Qatar just 16 days earlier. Bautista climbed aboard the GSV-R and settled into a racing position on the stationary bike, accompanied by a typical big smile from him and a round of applause from his loyal crew. Bautista is now undergoing an intensive recovery programme back in Madrid, including the use of a hyperbaric chamber to increase the oxygen flow in his body to aid the healing of his injury. Although no date for Bautista’s full-time return to MotoGP is yet confirmed, he is working as hard as possible to be back on the grid at the earliest possible opportunity. Álvaro Bautista: “It was strange for me at Jerez last weekend, because I was at the race, but not in the race! Once I saw the bikes on Saturday sitting in the garage, I just had to try and sit on one of them. I tried very slowly to get on the seat, which was a bit difficult, but once I was on there the feeling was not too bad. The most difficult thing was getting on and off, but it was good for me to try because now I know which parts of my leg I have to work on to improve my flexibility and strength to be able to ride – it was a good test for me to find this out! The healing is coming along very well, my doctor says it is very quick, but for me it already seems too slow. The movement is almost normal and the inflammation is coming down, so I think the over the next week I will be a lot better than I am now and will be able to start training so that I can get racing again very soon.”