MotoGP: Aprilia capitalise on strong weekend with successful testing

The Gresini Aprilia team have capitalised on a strong weekend at MotoGP, with Alvaro Bautista taking a best-ever eighth place finish for the new RS-GP machine, with teammate Stefan Bradl not far behind in twelfth.

And, with a days’ testing under their belts on Monday, Bautista says that both new tyres from Michelin and more fine-tuning to the chassis of the Italian bike’s chassis means they’re well prepared for Assen in three weeks’ time.

“First and foremost we tested some new tyres today and I’m rather satisfied with them. On the front the new specification tyre gave me a good feeling and the rear tyres all showed improved performance.

“We also worked hard on the chassis and the electronics, without any clear steps but continuing our process of fine-tuning the RS-GP. I think that what we did over the weekend and in the tests today will be useful for us at Assen, although it is a track with very different characteristics compared to Barcelona”.

Teammate Bradl echoed his thoughts, pleased with a day that saw the pair complete over 150 laps between them.

“We took a lot of laps, working hard on the chassis with numerous changes. We need these tests a lot. They help us to discover the bike and they let us test some solutions that would be difficult to analyse during a race weekend. After such an intense weekend and a test day with 82 laps taken, we’ll head to Assen full of both data to analyse and motivation to do well”.