| THE APRILIAS CELEBRATE THE ITALIAN TRIUMPHS DURING THIS MAGICAL SUMMER AND GO FAST ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE IN AUSTRIA ALEIX ESPARGARÓ BATTLES FOR THE PROVISIONAL POLE ENDING THE DAY WITH THE THIRD-BEST TIME: “INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS HERE TOO; WE ARE ALREADY FASTER THAN LAST YEAR’S QUALIFIERS” LORENZO SAVADORI FIRST IN FP2 HELD IN THE WET |
| The Aprilias did exceptionally well on the first day of practice at the Red Bull Ring ahead of the Styria GP scheduled for Sunday. The RS-GPs took to the track with light blue winglets and badges in the Italian colours to celebrate the victories, from the Euro football cup to the Tokyo Olympics, which are making this summer an unforgettable one for Italian sports. The special livery, dedicated to all Italian athletes, did indeed bode well for an extremely positive first day of practice for the Aprilia riders. Both with the Austrian track dry in the morning and in wet conditions during the afternoon session, Aleix Espargaró and Lorenzo Savadori were protagonists, riding their RS-GP machines to the top of the standings. With the sun shining and in ideal asphalt conditions in the morning, Aleix finished with the third-best time (1’24.183), confirming the progress of the RS-GP which was competitive on a track that has traditionally been difficult for it. In the final stint, with new tyres, Aleix turned a series of fast laps that kept him in the running for the top spot all the way until the end, where he finished third, just 37 hundredths from the provisional pole position time. In the afternoon FP2 session, conditions changed completely due to the rain. In wet conditions, Lorenzo Savadori was the one who shone. The Italian rider took full advantage of his skills in poor grip conditions, taking first place with a time of 1’31.304. Aleix also did well, finishing fifth just 927 thousandths behind his Aprilia Racing Team Gresini teammate. |
| ALEIX ESPARGARO’ “It’s only Friday, but I am particularly pleased with our performance today because this is a track that has traditionally not proven to be our favourite. Despite only one dry session, we are already faster than our qualifiers last year. This demonstrates the undeniable progress the RS-GP has made. Due credit goes to the guys at Aprilia who continued working and testing with Dovi over the summer break, even managing to give us a few interesting developments. It isn’t easy to improve consistently each weekend, but we are giving it our all and it shows.” |
| LORENZO SAVADORI “Being first in a session, even if it’s on a wet track, is always great. I’ve always felt good in these conditions because, compared to the dry, the bike and the tyres move around more and that gives me a better feeling, similar in some ways to the bikes I’ve ridden in the past. In any case, even on dry asphalt, my sensations with the RS-GP are getting better and better. This is a new track for me, so I used the FP1 session mainly to find my references. We’ll need to work session by session, because the weather conditions are quite variable and this means that we’ll have to be ready for anything.” |
