MOTOGP – APRILIA HEADS TO TEXAS SEEKING CONFIRMATION
AFTER THE POSITIVE SIGNS IN THE FIRST TWO RACES, BRADL AND BAUTISTA ARE KEEN TO CONTINUE IMPROVING
In 2015 the Austin circuit in Texas had Aprilia taking its first championship point in their new MotoGP adventure. This year things are rather different. The new 2016 Aprilia RS-GP began its path of growth well and, despite being a brand new project, in the first two races of the season it demonstrated reliability and finished in the points (in Qatar) and twice in the top ten (in Argentina) with Bradl seventh and Bautista tenth across the wire.
This is an encouraging start for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini as they will now take on the COTA – Circuit of the Americas – seeking important confirmation.
ROMANO ALBESIANO – APRILIA RACING MANAGER
“We are coming from a race where we skilfully managed a complicated situation, finishing with an encouraging overall result that could have been even better. In any case, this does not distract us from our main objective which, in this first part of the season, is still to develop and to get in as many kilometres as possible. In Texas we will continue to follow our testing schedule. We have identified a few good solutions, especially where electronics are concerned, but we have also found a few factors that limit our performance where we need work, in particular a vibration at the rear that keeps us from being 100% incisive. The track in Texas is a complex one that puts various characteristics of the bike to the test, so it is a good test bench for us”.
FAUSTO GRESINI – TEAM MANAGER
“Despite some difficult conditions, in Argentina we brought home a positive result. Let’s not forget that the new RS-GP has barely a thousand kilometres behind it and obviously there is still a lot that needs to be developed. The project started off well and finishing the race with both bikes in Argentina as a team along with other riders allowed us to collect important information and see more clearly which direction to take. Now we are preparing for the Austin round that will finish out the first phase of the championship, with three non-European races that are traditionally the toughest”.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“We are headed to a track that is new for us, very different than Qatar and Argentina. There are a lot of tight turns, a lot of acceleration points, a long straight stretch and a few changes in slope. It is a rather complete track where we’ll be able to see how the new Aprilia reacts. We are in a good period where performance in the last race was positive, especially in the first part of the race where I was competitive against much more experienced bikes. The pace we demonstrated makes us confident, although we are still not at 100%. Our goal is still to get as many laps in as possible in order to gather information and get to know the new bike better. It would also be nice to earn a few more important points before heading back to Europe”.
STEFAN BRADL
“The result at Termas gives us great motivation. Austin is completely different. The layout of the track is quite demanding in terms of setup. As always, we will try to improve session after session. I must say that I like the track and that I’ve had good results in Texas before. We’ll see how my Aprilia performs here. For us every race is a début and it gives us the chance to discover knew characteristics of the 2016 bike. The growth trend is encouraging and we need to keep going in this direction”.
