GP OF CATALUNYA
BOTH ALEIX AND ANDREA IMPROVE BETWEEN THE TWO SESSIONS BUT MUST RECKON WITH THE LACK OF GRIP
The Spanish Montmelò confirms its status as a rigorous test bench in terms of grip. The lack of grip slowed the Aprilia riders who were both able to improve between the two sessions, but not enough for a provisional spot in the Q2 session.
Aleix made the top 10 in morning practice, ranking tenth with a best time of 1’41.213. In FP2, the hometown hero improved his performance, dropping all the way to 1’40.878. It was a time that earned him sixteenth place, less than 8 tenths behind the leader.
Andrea Iannone also managed to improve, but he did not benefit much from the new soft rear tyre he put on toward the end of FP2. Andrea and his team will be analysing this behaviour during the technical debriefing at the end of the day.
There was a lot of testing for Bradley Smith, Aprilia Racing tester participating in his third wild card of the season here in Barcelona. The English rider finished the first two sessions with a time of 1’42,156.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“On a track that I like very much, I expected more of this first day. I am unable to exploit the bike in acceleration and that compromises our performance coming out of turns. We are trying some new parts and I know Bradley’s testing schedule. Any improvements are welcome, but we need to make an important step forward.”
ANDREA IANNONE
“Oddly enough, today I felt better with the medium tyre than with the soft. Toward the end of FP2, I put on the soft, thinking I would improve, but I ended up doing the same time as the used medium. We need to understand why this happened. In any case, we need to react and improve, especially in terms of the electronics.”
BRADLEY SMITH
“Today was a rather intense day for me. We have a lot of things to test, from the electronics to the chassis, and I hope that the information gathered today can help Aleix and Andrea. I also tried the hard tyre, just to increase the amount of data available to the team. Track conditions were rather difficult, especially in the afternoon. I expect some improvement in FP3, also having fewer details to assess, but the real job will come in FP4, which will be held in conditions similar to the race on Sunday.”
