MOTOGP – ENCOURAGING FIRST DAY AT BRNO FOR BRADL AND BAUTISTA HARD AT WORK ON THEIR APRILIA RS-GP MACHINES
Brno (Czech Republic), 14 August 2015 – The first day of MotoGP practice on the Czech Brno circuit had the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders following to different work schedules with encouraging results for both.
Alvaro Bautista focused on the comparison between a standard frame solution and an evolution. The initial feedback seems positive, although in the afternoon session the Spanish rider was unable to improve his performance due to a problem in the garage which kept him from getting back onto the track in the final part of the session to get in a flying lap. Alvaro got the 20th best time of the Free Practice 2.
In Stefan Bradl’s garage, on his second weekend with Aprilia, his familiarity with the RS-GP continues to grow. The German encountered a few problems in the morning from a physical point of view due to pain in his right wrist. The situation improved in the afternoon when Stefan was able to shave almost a second off his best lap, ending the session in fifteenth place.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Director)
“Today was a good day. In the second session we moved in a direction that seems to be an improvement in terms of handling. Stefan finished the day well, putting a good time on the sheets, but unfortunately Alvaro wasn’t able to get a flying lap in. We’ll continue the comparisons with Bautista on the new frame which, according to our manual stopwatch, is proving to be effective. Overall we worked in a slightly different way than our standard operating procedure, finding a few encouraging improvements.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“Today with Bradl we tried various setups that allowed us to gain a more in depth knowledge of the RS-GP with good results: Stefan also improved significantly in the afternoon, mounting the softer blend tyre, so we are happy about that. Unfortunately Alvaro had a problem that kept him off the track in the last few minutes of the second session with a new tyre. So he didn’t have the chance to improve on his time from the morning session. All told this first day can be considered positive in any case, considering the fact that the track is slippery and doesn’t have very good grip. These are difficult conditions for everyone and, in fact, we saw a lot of crashes today.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“I’m a bit frustrated that wasn’t able to improve in the second session since I couldn’t get in the last run. Working with the new frame I found a few small improvements, especially absorbing the bumps going into turns. In the afternoon we did some testing with both bikes, trying to find more grip but without finding any definitive solution. The conditions were difficult, especially with the front end in these high temperatures. Tomorrow we’ll continue our work.”
STEFAN BRADL
“Today we tried a lot of setup solutions because I am still in a phase where we need to figure out exactly which direction to go in order for me to adapt as best as possible to this bike. We worked on the frame geometries, implementing a few ideas that we had, taking some good steps forward both in the morning and in the afternoon. Then, in the second session, I put on the softer tyre for the first time and managed to capitalise on it quite well. But we’ll have to work hard on being consistent for our race pace. My wrist still isn’t at 100% but the situation improved in the afternoon. I hope that Sunday in the race I’ll be fit enough to push harder than I was able to at Indy.”
