JAPAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
Motegi (Japan), 6 October 2015 – The three Pacific area races will begin with the Japanese GP. In a three-week rush, in addition to the demanding Japanese circuit, the teams and riders will take on the Australian track at Phillip Island and the Malaysian Sepang circuit.
Continuing to develop the Aprilia RS-GP machines remains the main objective for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini in this rapid set of three demanding races.
Alvaro Bautista will be arriving at Motegi after four races in a row finished in the point and he intends to continue that trend in Japan. In the last race at Aragon, despite being penalised by a less than advantageous starting position, he demonstrated good race pace, coming back strong and showing potential that would have let him battle for an even better finish. Stefan Bradl, in his sixth race astride the Aprilia RS-GP, is keen to make amends for the Spanish round where only a drop in tyre performance toward the end kept him from defending a points finish which he had held onto easily until that point.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“In Japan we’ll find a track that is an extremely demanding challenge in terms of wear and brake stress. For us this will be a very interesting test in terms of engine management as well. In this season, which is a testing season for us, it will be quite a telling exam. In short, there are a series of factors which will demand great effort on our part. But in line with our season goals, we intend to bring home some important results in terms of experience and knowledge.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“Motegi is a track where we have no points of reference. It will be another useful test bench for the important development work we are doing on the RS-GP. Another chance for us to get some answers and hopefully to collect some more championship points, a goal that we have managed to achieve in all four of the last Grand Prix rounds. During the intense European season we were able to see improvements in various areas and that was reflected in the results, thanks in part to a united team and two riders who are motivating one another. In the Asian tour we want to take a few more important steps forward in anticipation of 2016.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“In Japan we’ll begin three very intense weeks, taking on three Grand Prix rounds in a row without a break. Lately we always seem to be able to achieve our goal of finishing in the points so we are coming to Motegi with plenty of motivation to try and continue this positive trend. The track is not one of my favourites although we’ve had good results here in the past and it also has a layout characterised by a lot of ‘stop and go’ sections with hard braking and restarting from low speeds. It’s another track where we have no points of reference and where we’ll try to assess the bike’s performance, continuing development. We would obviously like to collect a few more good points as well so we can get the Asian tour of to a good start.”
STEFAN BRADL
“I’m confident about the Motegi round. I like the track layout and it especially suits my riding style with a lot of places where you have to brake hard. Recently we have taken some good steps forward: race after race I am feeling more and more comfortable with the team and I’m learning to exploit the bike better and better, so I think that in Japan we’ll be able to do well. Considering the fact that all of my practice sessions at Aragon were very complicated I hope to be able to start off strong this time straight away from Friday and prepare as well as possible for the race.”
