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Category: Superbikes
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AFTER THE INDONESIAN RACE, APRILIA RACING SEEKS CONFIRMATION ON THE TERMAS DE RIO HONDO TRACK
After a two-year absence in 2020 and 2021, skipped due to the health situation, MotoGP returns to do a round in Argentina on the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit. A race the not only embraces the passion of all South America, but which also represents an important sign of gradual return to normalcy for the Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Championship circus.
The start of the season was important, both for Aleix and for Maverick. While the former solidified his good performance in Doha with a solid race on the Mandalika circuit too, for Viñales, the Indonesian race represented a potential turning point in his progress adapting to the new Aprilia RS-GP.
Both are therefore headed to Argentina with the right dose of enthusiasm, with the goal of further confirming the progress demonstrated thus far by the entire Aprilia Racing Team.
ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
"I am extremely happy to be returning to Argentina to race. It’s a country where you really feel the support for our sport, as well as a track where I have always felt rather good in the past. We got off on the right foot this season and now we have two races in a row ahead of us where it will be fundamental to hold the line and earn as many points as possible before returning to Europe."
MAVERICK VIÑALES
"If it were up to me, I’d have raced in Argentina as soon as the Indonesian race was over. At Mandalika, we made an important step forward in terms of settings which did not come out fully in the race due to the difficult conditions, but which makes me highly optimistic for the upcoming rounds. I'm convinced that we are extremely close to finding full confidence but in the current MotoGP championship, every tiny improvement takes a lot of work for both the team and the rider. It’s a matter of putting a lot of details together and creating a perfect synergy but we are on the right path."
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Danny Kent and Christian Iddon star on the opening episode of The Inside Line, as it returns for a second series, and this time, the podcast is now a video series, too.
Watch the video on YouTube here.
Watch on Facebook here.
Chris Moss returns as the show’s host, and in this episode he goes under the skin of BSB with Buildbase Suzuki’s 2022 superbike riders, discussing everything from injuries and the mental challenges as well as the physical ones, to rivalries and on-track (and off-track) aggression, how to set up a superbike, the effects social media can have on your confidence or mentality, handling PR duties, and this season’s aims and ambitions.
Official testing for the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship began today, at Snetterton, with the opening round of the season taking place on 15-17 April at Silverstone.
Follow Kent, Iddon, and the Buildbase Suzuki team’s season on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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After the exhilarating start to the season with the win in Qatar and the adventurous challenge under the rain at Mandalika, the MotoGP paddock moves to two circuits which are almost new to Team Gresini MotoGP. In a matter of seven days, the Italian team will tackle the #ArgentinaGP and the #AmericasGP.
Gresini Racing never raced as an independent team at Termas de Rio Honda, even though the Faenza-based squad logo did get a taste of the podium under the ‘Sol de Mayo’ (May sun): we have to go all the way back to October 23rd 1998 to relive Alex Barros’s third place finish in the Argentine Grand Prix at the Juan and Oscar Galvez circuit.
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The team only did one appearance at the “Circuit of the Americas” in 2013, with Alvaro Bautista crossing the line in 8th place. There are fond memories of racing in the United States of America for the team, however, as Marco Melandri clinched a third-place finish in 2006 and 2007 at Laguna Seca, while Alex De Angelis was second at Indy in 2009.
Enea Bastianini has a fourth place as best result in Argentina (2018, Moto3 class), while in Texas he finished second in the same year and above all he was sixth last year in his MotoGP debut season. Fabio Di Giannantonio also holds good memories of both tracks: he was on the podium at Termas in 2018 and at Austin the year before (both in Moto3).
ENEA BASTIANINI #23
“I like the Argentine track a lot and due to Covid it’s been a while since we last went there, so it will be great to return. We come from a strange race in Indonesia: conditions were not the best, but we still improved a lot in the wet and that’s not a small thing, so I’m happy. CoTA is quite a particular circuit, and it won’t be easy to get up to speed there. I think it will surely be simpler with the Ducati 2021 compared to last year… I can’t wait to get back on the road.”
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49
“Finally we go back to Argentina… We did not go there in the last two years and I think it’s a really nice track. It’ll surely be dirty, a little bit like Mandalika, so I don’t exclude that the dry set-up we found in Indonesia may work as a solid basis for that circuit as well. What about America… one of my favourite stops of the year: it’s a very demanding track, but I’ve always done quite well and been quick, so honestly I cannot wait to racing there with the MotoGP. Surely the speed will be incredible, with very hard braking, I’m so looking forward to it".
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EVEN IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS ALEIX TAKES HOME ANOTHER SOLID TOP-TEN FINISH
MAVERICK, PENALISED BY HIS START, MOVES UP THROUGH THE POSITIONS AND FINISHES WITH THE SEVENTH BEST RACE LAP TIME BUT JUST OUTSIDE THE POINTS
The tropical storm that hit a half hour before the start of the first MotoGP race on the new Indonesian circuit threw a spanner in the works, reducing it to seven laps. Aleix Espargaró, consistently among the fastest in dry conditions, showed his skill by reacting well to the new conditions as well. After a less than perfect start, he got caught up in a battle during the opening lap, losing quite a few positions, but from there he began to turn fast and consistent laps with a great deal of confidence on his RS-GP. In his group, he managed to get the better of Darryn Binder, Bastianini, his brother Pol, Álex Márquez and Bagnaia, thereby finishing in a solid ninth place. With more than a few regrets about not managing to avoid contact on that first lap, which cost him the best positions straight away.
Maverick Viñales achieved a great result in the warm-up session on dry asphalt when, after a few significant changes to his bike’s setup, he found new confidence on the RS-GP, so much that he finished second. After a bad start, he found himself at the back of the group, but he was able to find his rhythm and lapped at the same times as the best. Unfortunately, his comeback ride stopped just behind 15th place, so outside of the points zone. However, he’ll be leaving Mandalika after taking a major step forward in his growth on the Aprilia.
Aleix Espargaró
"It was a very difficult race because of the weather conditions and because during the first lap, I found myself twentieth due to contact with Álex Márquez. Staying in the group was hard and visibility was also extremely poor. But the bike worked well. Grip wasn’t bad and from there I began to come back. In the last seven laps I overtook quite a few riders, making up positions. Taking home another top-ten finish on such a difficult Sunday was a good result."
Maverick Viñales
"Even though the result is certainly not the one we wanted, it was a positive weekend. Today was perhaps the most important day of growth for me since joining Aprilia because we found a really good setting that I was able to go fast with in the warm-up session and that I was comfortable with even in wet conditions. I'm happy with the work we did here. We are taking a step closer to the best with every round. I can’t wait to get to Argentina to continue this positive trend."
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#IndonesianGP qualifying. It was an emotion-filled Saturday across the whole of Gresini Racing MotoGP garage as today the Faenza-based team sees both of its riders in Q2, with Enea Bastianini to line up on row two for tomorrow’s race, while Fabio Di Giannantonio while start the second encounter of the season from the 11th spot of the grid.
Let’s start with the rider #49, who did an incredible job in making it through Q2. He was the best-placed rookie today after setting an excellent 1’31.8secs lap-time, which was only four tenths of a second shy from the front row of the Indonesian Grand Prix.
Enea Bastianini proves to be in excellent form. Even though today’s second row appears like a given, the fifth position on the grid is his so-far second-best qualifying performance in the series.
5th - ENEA BASTIANINI #23 (1’31.504)
“We’re still not 100% ready and unfortunately this morning’s mixed conditions didn’t allow us to carry on with our work schedule as good as we’d liked. I chose not to take any unnecessary risk in FP3 and during FP4 I struggled in getting up to speed. The track improved little by little and I managed to set some good lap-times. In qualifying – if we take into account the two yellow flag situations – we cannot be but happy with fifth position. We’ll have to work hard during warm up, as we still need something extra to be really competitive.”
11th - FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49 (1’31.829)
“I’m very happy: to get into Q2 in my second MotoGP race is a great result. We were all very happy within the pit-box and it was surely a good Saturday. I’m happy especially with the work done since Qatar. The front-end feeling has radically changed and I do notice it while on the track. I’m having fun, and results come when you’re having fun.”
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