FOUR TIMES ON THE PODIUM IN THE FIRST TWO ROUNDS, APRILIA RIDER LEON HASLAM IS IN THE MIX FOR THE TOP SPOT. JORDI TORRES IS KEEN TO CONTINUE IMPROVING WITH THE APRILIA RSV4 RF IN HIS HOME ROUND.
THE APRILIA RSV4 RF BIKES MANAGED BY THE NUOVA M2 RACING TEAM ALSO BEGIN THEIR SEASON WITH ITALIAN RIDERS SAVADORI AND CALIA IN THE SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP.
Alcaniz (Spain), 8 April 2015 – After the first two rounds in Australia and Thailand, World Superbike arrives in Europe for the Spanish weekend at Motorland de Aragon. Team Aprilia Racing – Red Devils turns up at the first continental round after collecting a win and three second place finishes with Leon Haslam in the first four races. The English rider, now lying second in the overall standings, proved from his first few yards on the tarmac that he is in perfect harmony with the Aprilia RSV4, the bar setting bike in recent SBK seasons with 7 world titles won since 2010.
On the fast and spectacular Spanish track the duo will once again be making a play for the top spots, but they’ll have to reckon with some particularly fierce competition. In fact, based on performance thus far in the championship, the competitive level of the 2015 WSBK season is decidedly high.
Leon Haslam: “It has been a rather long break and now I can’t wait to get back onto the track. Aragon is a circuit where I have personally struggled in the past, but at the same time the Aprilia has always been fast here and this year we’ll be using the GP track which seems to be better. So I hope I can improve on my personal statistics!”
After just missing the podium in the Thai races, Jordi Torres wants to take advantage of his “home” round to continue improving. As a rookie in World Superbike the Spaniard took the first two rounds to familiarise himself with a bike that is brand new for him, in any case bringing home encouraging results and showing consistent progress. The Motorland de Aragon track, one that Jordi knows well, could be the ideal place to ride his RSV4 RF to a podium finish.
Jordi Torres: “I’m happy to be racing my first European round at home, in front of my Spanish fans. I know the Aragon circuit well, but I’ll have to be clever enough to figure out how a Superbike should be ridden at Motorland, adapting my points of reference quickly. This is a very important round because the characteristics of the track may let me take another step forward in terms of riding style. There are some tight turns, other wider ones and direction changes, plus the track is long and very complex. I think that working well on this track will be an advantage for the rest of the season. We have already made good progress, but this weekend will be a sort of final exam for me and my riding style.”
APRILIA RSV4 RF BIKES IN SUPERSTOCK 1000 WITH SAVADORI AND CALIA
The first European round also marks the beginning of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup which includes the Aprilia RSV4 RFs managed by Team Nuova M2 this year, ridden by Lorenzo Savadori and Kevin Calia, a perfect duo of Italian riders on Italian bikes. This means that Aprilia Racing has expanded its efforts in the factory derivative bike category, highly valuable activity for the impact it has on super sport bike production, a field where the RSV4 has proven to be a global reference point since it appeared on the market, not only with the wins taken on the WSBK track (seven championship titles in five seasons), but also with the superiority demonstrated in factory bike comparisons made by specialised magazines all over the world.
Lorenzo and Kevin distinguished themselves in 2014 by achieving important results in their respective championships, Savadori in second place and Calia in third place respectively in the Superstock 1000 FIM CUP and the CIV Superbike championship and they are approaching the 2015 season with decidedly ambitious goals.
Lorenzo Savadori: “We are finally about to start. I couldn’t wait! We are ready and anxious to compete with some top notch rivals. This winter we did an excellent job during the tests working a lot on getting to know this RSV4 thoroughly, which for me is completely new, and also doing some careful fine tuning. We reached a good compromise for riding fast, but at the same time there is still a lot of room for improvement. We’ll come to Aragon strong and determined to start the season in the best possible way. I want to thank the entire team and Aprilia who, along with my sponsors and the support of my family, allow me to compete at such a high level.”
Kevin Calia: “We began working hard over the winter with the new RSV4 RF and you can really feel the changes, especially in terms of the engine, compared to the RSV4 that I used last year. We were able to find a good balance in the bike setup and I’m sure that already at Aragon we’ll be competitive straight away, with plenty of room for improvement throughout the season. I’m confident and pleased about taking on this new adventure with Nuova M2 Racing team which has by now become like a family to me. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who helps me, my friends who always follow me and support me, but in particular I would like to thank Aprilia Racing and Nuova M2 Racing who have given me the chance to be part of this ambitious project.”
