Spaniard Alvaro Bautista has left the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team and is now odds-on favourite to replace Marco Simoncelli in Fausto Gresini's San Carlo Honda team for MotoGP 2012.

He is expected to test a 800cc RC212V today at Valencia after running out of patience with the Suzuki factory, who have said they will make a decision on their MotoGP plans for next year by Friday evening. It paves the way for Randy de Puniet, who tested successfully yesterday, or John Hopkins to jump on the bike.

"I am very sad to be leaving Suzuki after the two great years that I have had here. It has been a great team to work in and I have learned a lot of things from everyone in the team. It was a fantastic experience working with an English/Japanese team and we have become like a big family, except we have never had any arguments and no-one falls out with each other," said Bautista.

"I want to thank everybody personally for the last two years, sometimes it has been difficult, but nobody ever gave up and I felt like I always had their full support and commitment. I don’t feel like I am leaving a team, but a group of friends that I hope I will know for a long time."