MOTOGP QUALIFIERS AT SACHSENRING
Alvaro Bautista with a good spot on the sixth row. Laverty will start from the eighth row, consistently improving his times
Sachsenring (Germany), 11 July 2015 – Today the qualifiers for the German GP starting grid were held. Alvaro Bautista confirmed the hard work done over these two days of practice and rode his Aprilia RS-GP to the sixteenth best time (1’22,049) which earned him a spot on the sixth row of the starting grid tomorrow. The good placement of the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini rider takes on even more value in light of the poor grip Alvaro had to deal with in qualifiers. Improving grip would mean being able to aim for an even better placement in the race and he is working on this with the Italian team.
Michael Laverty, making his racing début on the RS-GP, continued improving his times, finishing the qualifiers with a time of 1’22,947 that places him on the eighth row with the 24th best time.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“We are continuing our programme and we’ve tried various new solutions here as well. Bautista’s performance and his final position on the grid are not bad, although we need to tackle the problem of grip on the rear. Michael is doing a good job providing us with feedback consistent with Alvaro’s feelings, and he has continued to progress.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“Today in qualifiers Alvaro had a good lap pace. Tomorrow I’m sure he will ride a good race and meet our goals, which are still the same: crossing the wire to collect important data and maybe even a few points. Laverty also did well. He is having a good weekend of consistent progress. Tomorrow it will be interesting to see him again in the race and to get his impressions of the bike.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“We improved a bit compared to yesterday and the sixth row isn’t bad. Starting well will be important, just like in the last race. In FP4 we tried something different but in the end for the qualifiers I chose the setting that had worked the best in practice so far. I tried to push but I wasn’t able to take full advantage of the first tyre because the bike was sliding too much going into and coming out of turns. So with the second tyre I looked after it without taking too many risks. For the race we need to improve grip, especially in worn tyre conditions.”
MICHAEL LAVERTY
“I’m pleased with the way the weekend has gone so far because we have been able to improve in each session, although we had hoped to do a little better in qualifying. Each time I ride onto the track I feel more and more at home and I’m pleased with the general feeling I have with the bike. Tomorrow morning in warm up we’ll try a few more changes because I think we can improve the bike’s performance both at the front and the rear. Tomorrow I’d like to stay in the mix with the riders in front of me: my brother Eugene, De Angelis, Hayden and Aoyama.”
