MOTOGP – FIRST DAY AT MOTEGI
BAUTISTA AND BRADL BEGIN WELL, GREAT WORK ON THE APRILIA RS-GP AND GOOD FEEDBACK STRAIGHT AWAY, BOTH TIMES AND FEELING
Motegi (Japan), 9 October 2015 – On the first day of practice at Motegi in anticipation of the MotoGP race Sunday, both of the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders seem to have gotten off on the right foot. In particular Bradl, rode his Aprilia to tenth place in FP1, stopping the clock with the best placing the RS-GP has had in a practice session since the beginning of the Championship. In the afternoon, focused on trying different setups, Stefan did not improve on his time but he finished in 13th place for the combined standings with 1’46.371. Bautista, on the other hand, after working on race pace and consistent performance in the morning, improved his time in the second session, finishing in 22nd place (1’46,974), slowed down in his attempts to improve by traffic on the track at the end of FP2.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“We started off well enough. Both Stefan and Alvaro seem to have found the most profitable direction to go straight away. On this track effective braking and accelerating is fundamental and the setups we have tried seem positive, especially on Bradl’s side of the garage. We are also closely monitoring the classic critical points of this track, in other words brake wear and fuel consumption. Alvaro deserved a decidedly better placement but what counts right now are the good sensations that both riders have brought home.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“On this first day the gap between us and our rivals appears straight away to be smaller than other rounds and this is without a doubt a pleasant surprise. In fact, every time we take on a new track where we have no points of reference we find ourselves dealing with an unknown. Instead, both our riders were fast straight away, especially Stefan, but I should point out that Alvaro also demonstrated the potential for better results. It was a positive start and now we’ll keep working to improve more.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“In the morning we worked essentially on finding a good setup to start off the weekend. Then in the afternoon we tested some different settings but I didn’t like them so we went back to the solutions from the first session. In FP2 I improved on my time from the morning but I could have done a lot better. At the decisive moment, in the finale, I wasn’t able to get a clean lap in because of traffic on the track. There were slower riders ahead of me who slowed me down a lot. But it was a good start and now we need to work first and foremost to improve in the braking sections which are decisive here and also where I am still struggling to stop the bike the way I’d like to.”
STEFAN BRADL
“The first free practice session this morning was extremely positive, despite a small crash I had just at the end, which in any case did not create any problems. In the afternoon I continued to feel at ease and we were able to test some different setup solutions with the goal of improving the bike’s performance going into turns. This is a very important aspect on this track, which has a lot of braking sections, so tomorrow we’ll be looking for a solution that allows us to be more effective in this area.”
