MOTOGP – APRILIA, FIRST TWO PRACTICE SESSIONS ON THE DEMANDING SEPANG CIRCUIT
BRADL: A DECIDEDLY MORE POSITIVE FRIDAY THAN AT PHILLIP ISLAND
BAUTISTA: I NEED TO MAKE PROGRESS TOMORROW
Sepang (Malaysia), 23 October 2015 – In Malaysia the extreme weather conditions, with very high heat and humidity, and the difficulties of an extremely varied track, put Bautista and Bradl to the test, both working on their respective Aprilia RS-GP machines to find a setting for the qualifiers and the race. Between the first session in the morning (FP1) and the afternoon session (FP2), both Aprilia Racing Team Gresini improved, finishing in 15th place (Bradl with 2’02,118) and 19th place (Bautista with 2’02,626) in the combined standings. The sensations were more positive for Stefan, already pleased with his base setup, whereas Alvaro, a bit behind his team mate today, needs to work particularly on rear grip in order to move up in the standings.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“Bradl is quite motivated, positive and I’d say quite effective as well after the hiccough at the Phillip Island race. We dedicated the sessions today to various tests and comparisons, focusing most of all on rear grip which is the aspect where we need to improve the most. Alvaro also had a slight mishap this morning with a harmless crash. Now we’ll analyse the data to get ready for tomorrow’s sessions.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“The results are positive for this first day: a crash in the morning session slowed Alvaro’s progress and that’s why he is a bit behind compared to Stefan. In general, however, the gap behind the faster riders, considering the type of track, is not that big. Tomorrow we’ll continue working in the hopes of improving even more.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“Today was not easy, partly because of a crash that slowed our work during FP1, but overall we need to improve rear grip. The bike is sliding around a lot right now and I can’t push the way I should be able to. In the second session we tried a few different solutions but since I still can’t feel the rear I’m struggling to get in a good lap. We need to analyse the data and find a solution to make progress tomorrow.”
STEFAN BRADL
“This was a much more positive Friday than the one at Phillip Island. I’m happy to be back to demonstrating performance that is more in line with our levels. The bike and tyres are giving me a good feeling to be able to push and I’m already quite pleased with the setup we began with this weekend. In any case, we still have a few ideas to improve further. In fact, we need a bit more grip going into turns, which forces me to take care, especially when tyre performance begins to drop. We will also try to improve our braking stability. Overall it was a satisfying day anyway. Hopefully we can continue like this tomorrow as well.”
