MOTOGP – ITALIAN GP AT MUGELLO
APRILIA IN THE POINTS AGAIN WITH STEFAN BRADL
BAUTISTA CRASHES OUT IN THE FIRST LAP
The Aprilia RS-GP finished in the points at the Mugello GP with Stefan Bradl who, just in the race on Sunday, found the best feeling of the weekend and rode his bike to a fourteenth place finish, earning two more championship points.
Alvaro Bautista’s race, on the other hand, did not last long. The Spaniard, who seemed to be the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini rider who was more on the ball throughout the weekend, was forced to use his second bike in the race due to a crash in the morning warm-up session. But in the race he crashed on the first turn when, after a good start, he was trying to recover positions in the braking section but risked too much, losing the front end, finishing his race early.
ROMANO ALBESIANO – APRILIA RACING MANAGER
“We expected Mugello to be a difficult track for the fledgling RS-GP, but losing the first free practice session on Friday due to the damp track really hurt us. Precisely because of how new the project is, every single session can make the difference. Judging from what he demonstrated throughout the weekend, I think that Alvaro would have had the chance to do better than Stefan, but unfortunately he exaggerated on the first turn and his race ended there. Stefan made recovered well with respect to Friday and Saturday, improving the bike and his feeling, but we definitely must and will do much better. The bike is a very good base, but right now we are also paying for an engine gap that we will definitely recover during the season”.
FAUSTO GRESINI – TEAM MANAGER
“There is an extremely high level in MotoGP this year and Mugello is a huge challenge for a project as new as ours. At the end of the day, the gap behind the front runners did not increase, but the goal is to take steps forward and to reduce this gap in the race. With a completely new bike we are encountering very different situations from track to track and in that sense, we could be in better conditions in Barcelona, as we were in Jerez when we found a good setup straight away. We need to have patience and the results will come”.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“After the crash in the warm-up session I had to use the second bike for the race. In the warm-up lap the front brake felt strange, so I adjusted the lever before the start. When I got to the first turn I braked normally, but as I was leaning the bike into it I felt the wheel lock up and I crashed. First of all I want to apologise to Baz and Miller, who I involuntarily involved in my crash. I’m disappointed because, despite the fact that it wasn’t my best weekend, I was confident in my race pace. Now we need to do a mental reset and think about the next round in Barcelona”.
STEFAN BRADL
“It was definitely a demanding weekend for us. We did a lot of work, testing a lot of solutions, but I never found a 100% satisfactory setup. Even in the warm-up session we made a change that provided some benefits but that we need to look at more closely when we have more time. In the race I had a good start and then I tried to be aggressive straight away. I knew I didn’t have the best pace, so I set my sights on staying with the group. Unfortunately, with ten laps left to go the rubber tank covering that is used to give your legs grip and to stabilise the bike detached, and on a track like this one that cost me the chance of making up a place”.
