MOTOGP – FIRST PRACTICE ROUNDS FOR THE APRILIA RS-GP AT SILVERSTONE
Despite threateningly dark grey skies, the weather did not interfere with the first two practice sessions at Silverstone, held on a dry track. The MotoGP riders found rather bumpy asphalt and less than optimum grip, conditions that have an impact on bike performance, especially in acceleration.
The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders struggled particularly in this area, both complaining of a certain difficulty exploiting the power of their RS-GP machines coming out of corners due to the lack of stability. Therefore, both Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl are hard at work with their mechanics, assessing changes to the setup, both of the chassis and the electronics, that will allow them to be more incisive in practice and qualifying tomorrow.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“Today was a difficult day. We are struggling a lot. The bike is not stable and I am unable to take advantage of the power coming out of corners. I am always too close to the limit and that keeps me from pushing. We tried to work on the power output to make it less aggressive, but that was not enough. For tomorrow we will need to make some significant changes to solve the problems”.
STEFAN BRADL
“We used a few solutions that we found in the Misano tests which especially improve braking performance, but here at Silverstone acceleration and shock absorption are also important. From this point of view, there is still room for improvement, besides being ready for the different weather conditions that we could encounter. Today we were lucky not to have any rain in the two sessions, but things can change very quickly here”.
