BOTH APRILIA RS-GP MACHINES IN THE POINTS FOR THE FIRST TIME AT BRNO ALVARO BAUTISTA FINISHED THIRTEENTH AHEAD OF STEFAN BRADL
Brno (Czech Republic), 16 August 2015 – Another notch in the Aprilia path of progress with both Bautista (13th) and Bradl (14th) finishing the Brno race in the points. This is a first for this début season. The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders rode an impeccable race after a good start which was undermined by the battle in the first turns.
Alvaro Bautista got off the line well when the lights went out, immediately moving up a few positions. Unfortunately, the usual battles in the first turns penalised him and he was forced to slow down a few times to keep from running off the track. In twenty-second place at the end of the first lap, Alvaro stayed focused and found his pace, recovering ground with each lap and putting times on the sheets that would have kept him just behind the top-10. His thirteenth place finish therefore leaves a few regrets for the Spanish rider who is comforted by the improvement that his technical package demonstrated over this weekend.
Stefan Bradl is also pleased with the result. Riding an outstanding race, the German rider gave up a position in the final stages of the race to his team mate who had a better pace. His hurting wrist obviously did not help Bradl’s performance, especially in the final laps. Stefan’s goal is still to find a more consistent race pace after showing that he has the speed he needs in the qualifying.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Director)
“Having both riders finish with points for the first time confirms our excellent level, a situation that is streamlining our development work. In this race the thing that satisfies me the most is that we kept a good pace throughout and that shows the improvements in this period which are critical for us. The result could have been even better, but in any case it is in line with our goals this season. Now we’ll focus on the tests tomorrow with the new tyres, essential for getting the best possible start in the 2016 season.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“We are very pleased with the result today – two bikes bringing home points is undoubtedly a great confidence booster. It’s nice to watch races like this one, where both our riders were fast with a gap behind the top ten that was quite small at the finish line. It was just a shame about the time Alvaro lost at the beginning of the race due to contact with another rider, otherwise he could have brought home an even better result.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“This was a hard but fun race. I had a good start, but on the first lap I lost the advantage I had gained. So I set my pace. At the beginning I was struggling a bit to stop the bike but lap after lap the situation improved. I had a lot of riders in front of me and that complicated matters. I enjoyed overtaking but the fact that I had the pace to make a play for eleventh place leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Our work keeps going. Even during the warmup a small change helped me to find more feeling with the bike over race distance. I would like to thank my team for all of their help on such a demanding weekend.”
STEFAN BRADL
“I think the team can be very happy with our result today. I had set the goal of being faster in the race than I was at Indianapolis and I was successful, plus it was fun battling with Bautista. I was able to stay ahead of Bautista for quite a few laps and then toward the end he managed to overtake me with a clean move: he earned the spot ahead of me. The team is working well and I hope we’ll be able to continue like this to further improve our race performance. In qualifiers I am able to get the most out of the bike for a few flying laps, but our priority is still to improve race performance. Today we took a step forward even if the bike became more difficult to ride in the second half of the race. In the last two laps I was also feeling pain in my injured wrist, but despite everything we managed to bring home a nice result.”
