ARAGON GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
ALVARO BAUTISTA, WHO WILL CELEBRATE 100 MOTOGP RACES, AND STEFAN BRADL, JUST SIGNED FOR NEXT SEASON, ON THE HUNT FOR POINTS AT ARAGON
Aragon (Spain), 23 September 2015 – The last European round will be raced at Aragon before the three transpacific rounds. Work was done on the Aprilia RS-GP machines in the tests after the Misano race as well and the changes tested in Romagna will now be available to the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders.
Both Bautista and Bradl are highly motivated to do their best on the Spanish track: In Spain Alvaro will celebrate 100 MotoGP races, whereas for Bradl the Aragon GP comes on the heels of his signing with the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini for the 2016 season. The goal for both, as always this season, is to gather as much experience and information as possible to grow the bike and project, but without neglecting competition, battling for points positions in the race.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“In the Misano tests we took another step forward, successfully testing a new swingarm with both riders. Both Alvaro and Stefan gave us positive feedback and we found that it significantly improves our race pace. Getting the rear tyre to work better opens up new possibilities for us in terms of power management, so we hope to continue in this direction during the coming weekend. Historically our riders have often done well at Aragon, so I am expecting a positive race.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“In the last two Grand Prix races we managed to streamline development of the bike a bit, working very well throughout the weekend with both of our riders at Silverstone and at Misano. What’s more, despite both racing being made unpredictable by the weather conditions, we were still able to bring home points. So we are coming to Aragon confident that we’ll be able to take another step forward in terms of the RS-GP’s overall performance, with an eye to the future and determined to ride another great race.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“Aragon is a very special round for me, not only because we are back in Spain to race, but also because in this Grand Prix I’ll be reaching an important milestone: my 100th MotoGP race. During the Misano tests we were able to work on the bike, finding some good solutions, so we are coming to Aragon confident that this can help us take another step forward. On a track that is new for the Aprilia our goal remains the same: collecting some good reference points starting Friday and being ready on Sunday to ride a good race. Aragon is not a simple track. It has a lot of fast turns combined with tight hairpin bends and even a long straight stretch. We’ll do our best to make it a good weekend, working on bike development and trying to battle for points like we have in recent races.”
STEFAN BRADL
“The Aragon track is certainly not an easy one, but it is very interesting from a technical point of view and a lot of fun to tackle, with a good mix of slow turns and some faster ones too. I’m anxious to get back on the track because in the tests after the Misano race we identified a few set up solutions that seem to work well, so it will be interesting to see if they help us at Aragon too. In recent Grand Prix races we have improved our performance and I hope that we’ll be able to continue this positive trend.”
