PENULTIMATE EUROPEAN MOTOGP RACE FOR APRILIA
AT ARAGÓN TO CONFIRM THE PROGRESS THE RS-GP HAS MADE
Before departing for the long tour in Japan, Australia and Malaysia, the MotoGP championship will take on the penultimate European race on the 2016 calendar.
The race will be hosted by Motorland Aragón, a 5,078 metre circuit located in Alcañiz in the autonomous community of Aragona. It is a very complex track, fast thanks to the long straight, but demanding for riders and vehicles alike.
The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini is taking on the Spanish round after good performance in Misano, with Bautista riding his RS-GP straight through to Q2 and then to a top 10 race finish. The Spanish rider and his teammate, Stefan Bradl, tackled two days of tests on the Valencia circuit, both to continue developing the new chassis configurations introduced in recent races and to assess electronic updates aimed mostly at perfecting the V4 engine’s power delivery.
ROMANO ALBESIANO – APRILIA RACING MANAGER
“From a technical point of view, Motorland Aragón is a nice test bench, a complex and fast track where we will be able to see how the RS-GP reacts and confirm the progress made so far. Our work proceeds. We had two days of tests at Valencia with Alvaro, Stefan and Mike di Meglio that will definitely be useful during this weekend”.
FAUSTO GRESINI – TEAM MANAGER
“We are approaching the Aragón round hard at work, as always. We were on the track in Valencia these past few days, where we conducted more important tests to continue development of the RS-GP. We would like to finish up a good weekend in Spain, like we did in Misano, trying to close the gap behind the fastest bikes even more. We would really like to achieve a good result so we can take on the long extra-European tour with the right motivation”.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“I am coming to one of my home rounds highly motivated, especially after the good performance at Misano, going through to Q2 and having a race pace that took us into the top 10. We will pick up from here with the goal of being competitive and improving even more. It will not be easy, but we will try our hardest. Aragón has very different characteristics. It is a complete layout where it will be essential to work well straight away on how to use the tyre, which is usually very stressed here”.
STEFAN BRADL
“It is difficult to predict how the RS-GP will perform here at Aragón. We will be able to tell only after the first practice session. I like the track; both the layout and the structures of the circuit are really interesting. There are many corners with different inclinations and direction changes. Overall, it is a fast track since there is also a long straight. I think that the confidence gained in Misano and the two days of testing at Valencia will help us take on this Spanish race with a good package”.
