More progress for Aprilia in Austin

The Aprilia MotoGP team of Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista have continued to make strong progress in their debut year with the new RS-GP machine, as they work closer towards becoming regular features in the top ten.

Finishing tenth and eleventh at the weekend, racing manager Romano Albesiano says that the data gathered is helping the squad make up for a lack of testing on the new bike.

“In these first three races of the season with the new bike we have shown good performance, providing a glimpse of our great potential and already promising reliability. There are obviously areas where development is lacking. The test team will begin working with Mike di Meglio next week and I’m sure that this will streamline our schedule.

“I am confident because at the end of this race, both Stefan and Alvaro once again confirmed the RS-GP’s good performance for me. We need to improve in terms of the engine and the electronics and we need to explore a lot of chassis solutions, but we are headed back to Europe with a good base.”

However, Bradl says that despite a shortfall of development, the bike, completely new for this season, has a lot of potential once the team find the key to unlocking it.

“I was quite competitive throughout the weekend. We made great progress, especially with the electronics. I am pleased because we continue to test and improve with every session. We are moving in the right direction. In the turns the RS-GP really performed well. We are still lacking something in terms of power, but I’m confident because the guys at Aprilia ensured me that important updates are on the way.”