Patient Bautista plans Le Mans finish

"There are still plenty of races left so we have plenty of time to show what we can do" - Alvaro Bautista.
Bautista, Portuguese MotoGP Race 2011
Bautista, Portuguese MotoGP Race 2011
© Gold and Goose

Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista is aiming for an incident-free weekend in France as he continues to build strength in his healing leg.

Bautista made a surprisingly comeback at the previous Portuguese race, just six weeks after breaking his femur during practice for the opening round of the year in Qatar.

The Spaniard is determined to perform well at Le Mans, but will be wary of pushing too hard after being forced to withdraw from last year's event when a practice crash aggravated a healing collarbone injury.

"I have been working hard since the Portuguese Grand Prix and test to improve my fitness and get ready for Le Mans and the rest of the season," said Bautista, who achieved his goal of a race finish at Estoril, albeit in a distant last. "It was great to be back on the bike at Estoril, but it showed me that I still have some work to do to be up to race fitness.

"I plan to go to Le Mans in a better condition than I went to Estoril and in a much better condition than when I arrived in France last year! My target is to get to the finish line this year - because I didn't manage that in 2010 - and then build on things for the remainder of the season.

"There are still plenty of races left so we have plenty of time to show what we can do."

Despite the strain of the Portuguese Grand Prix, Bautista returned to the track on Monday to try a new chassis during the official test.

"The few laps that I did in the test were good because they showed that the new chassis is an improvement, so we will use that in France and hopefully it will help us to be more competitive," said the former 125cc world champion.

Le Mans is one of just four circuits where Bautista has not had a GP podium in any class; the others being Silverstone, Laguna Seca and Aragon.

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