HARD WORK IN THE APRILIA GARAGE ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE
A fascinating but complex track put the Aprilia riders to the test on the first day of practice at Motorland Aragón. Aleix Espargaró improved his performance by almost one second between the two sessions, finishing thirteenth in the combined standings. The Spanish rider complains of a certain difficulty going into turns – a problem he’ll work on to test a few new settings.
Scott Redding also shaved some time off his performance between FP1 and FP2, although not quite as much. The British rider’s struggles can be attributable mainly to a poor feeling in braking, independently of tyre choice. Work in tomorrow’s sessions will focus on this limitation.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’“This track is one of my favourites. I like this type of layout a lot. We still have not solved the problems that have limited us up to now, especially going into turns when I release the brakes. We are trying a lot of geometry solutions with my crew chief Pietro. He has certainly brought a lot of new ideas with him, but we are still not as competitive as we would like to be. We are continuing to carefully analyse every bit of data along with the technicians to try and figure out the source of the problems. It is not an easy job, but we are giving it our all.”
SCOTT REDDING“This morning I didn’t feel too bad. I’m riding more comfortably than I was in Misano. In the afternoon, we started with the used tyre from this morning and things got worse. The thing that worries me is the difficulty stopping the bike. I can’t do much at this juncture. It is a limitation that is difficult to overcome. For tomorrow, we have some ideas in terms of settings to try to improve. My feeling on the bike is not bad, but in the end, it’s the times that count.”
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