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Category: Moto GP
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ON THE SACHSENRING, WITH FALL WEATHER, THE APRILIAS RIDDEN BY BAUTISTA AND BRADL ARE TRYING TO FIND THE BEST SETTING FOR THE QUALIFYING TOMORROW
Typically fall weather, with temperatures between 13 and 16 degrees Celsius and a constant threat of rain, characterised the opening Friday of the German MotoGP Championship weekend.
The first session, partly due to the damp track that cause a lot of crashes, had the Aprilia riders sitting in the garage for most of the time available and it was not very helpful for fine tuning the bikes. Stefan Bradl also had a sliding crash that ended without any consequences for the rider. The afternoon session went better when Bautista and Bradl were able to lap with some consistency, obviously dropping their times significantly compared to the morning, as well as finding some good sensations and collecting a series of data that will be useful for finding the best setup for tomorrow, when the riders will be competing for the spots on the starting grid.
In fact, all of the work done today by the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini focused on an initial general setup for the RS-GP, which will be taking on the short and winding German circuit for the first time. At the end of the two sessions, Alvaro Bautista finished in 17th place (1’23.958), just ahead of teammate Stefan Bradl, 18th with 1’24.116.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“With the weather conditions today we certainly could not push to the limit, so we had a general initial contact with the Sachsenring. The feelings are not bad at all, although we didn't force our hand. This is a track where you are in turns for a lot of the time, so traction is very important, especially at maximum lean angle. Today we tried to find as much as possible, especially using the electronics, but that is not enough. We will also need to find more mechanical grip and avoid exploiting the traction control too much. The other front we worked on was stability, which we need to improve. We have the potential to improve a lot for the qualifiers tomorrow".
STEFAN BRADL
“This was an odd first day. The weather made things difficult, especially during FP1. I crashed as it began to rain on a turn where many others crashed. Fortunately, I was not hurt. In the afternoon the conditions improved a bit, but the setting we started with turned out not to be effective. We changed the rear of the bike in one direction, without finding any great benefits, and then toward the end of the session we went back to a configuration that we know better. The feeling was improving, but unfortunately the session was over by that time. Hopefully tomorrow the better weather will allow us to continue working in this direction which seems to be able to bring good results”.
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Nicky Hayden has crossed the line in third place at the end of a hard-fought, 25-lap opening World Superbike race in front of his home crowd at Laguna Seca. In doing so, the experienced American rider has claimed the third podium of his rookie WorldSBK season. Michael van der Mark was right behind his Honda WorldSBK team mate in fourth, after a great recovery from eleventh place on the grid.
Hayden got a great launch from row two and was fifth at the exit of turn one; while keeping a solid pace, he was promoted first to fourth and then to third as the two Ducati riders Davies and Giugliano crashed out of contention on lap five and thirteen, respectively. The 34-year-old from Owensboro, Kentucky, brilliantly held on to the final step of the podium despite the pressure from Alex Lowes and, in the final two laps of the race, by a resurgent van der Mark.
The young Dutchman was able to make up several positions in the early stages despite a small mistake on lap one and, as the race entered its second half, he joined the battle for third place. With a spectacular overtake on Lowes at turn two at the start of the penultimate lap, van der Mark moved up to fourth and set his sights on his team mate; he then dived on the inside of Hayden at the last hairpin, eventually running wide.
The second and last World Superbike race of the US round will get underway tomorrow at 14:30 local time (GMT -7), after the traditional 15-minute warm up scheduled at 11:00.
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SEVENTH ROW FOR BRADL AND BAUTISTA'S APRILIAS
The demanding ups and downs of Mugello led to some extremely close MotoGP practice sessions, with narrow gaps and very tight rankings. In FP4, the last free practice session before qualifying, no less than 12 riders were packed into a one second gap and as many as 17 were less than one and a half seconds from the leader.
Bautista and Bradl improved their times with respect to yesterday, Alvaro by almost a second and Stefan by more than ten tenths. This is an indicator that the work being done in the garage is moving in the right direction, despite the fact that the testing done on the two Aprilia RS-GP machines had them putting in a lot of laps on used tyres to gauge race pace.
In qualifying the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini rider set their sights on maximum speed on the flying lap and the tight rankings placed them in nineteenth (Bautista with 1’48,372) and twentieth place (Bradl with 1’48,646) on the starting grid. And so the battle for a finish in the points will have to wait for the 23 laps of tomorrow's race, where the two will start side by side from the seventh row.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“With the new engine we improved a bit even in acceleration and in general today I had a better feeling than yesterday. We also worked on the chassis and since this morning we have taken a step forward. Then we worked a lot with the used tyre with the race in mind and our pace is not bad. In qualifying we struggled a bit, partly because of the heat that penalises me a bit, but more than anything, on this track power is quite important and that doesn't yet help us. On the corners and in the braking sections we have made good progress, but we obviously need to improve and the race tomorrow will be an important chance to continue doing that, as we have been since the season start”.
STEFAN BRADL
“It's a shame because we were not able to improve as much as we had hoped. Unfortunately, we are struggling in the direction changes and if we try to improve in that area we lose stability. So it is a rather delicate compromise that, even with the many tests we did today, we were unable to get quite right. We will continue to analyse the data, testing a few other things in the warm up. We are obviously disappointed but we won't give up until the chequered flag comes out tomorrow”.
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ALVARO BAUTISTA: “A DIFFICULT TRACK BUT TOP-10 IS POSSIBLE" STEFAN BRADL: "SPECIAL TRACK AND SPECIAL FANS"
One of the most exciting tracks on the MotoGP calendar is the setting for the first Italian race, an incredible round and long awaited by the fans. The Mugello Circuit, nestled among the Tuscan hills, will also be the first home race for the Aprilia RS-GP 2016, a project that has grown consistently over the first five rounds of the season and that shows great room for improvement.
Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl will have some upgrades available to them, but above all they will be able to benefit from the hard work done during recent race weekends. In fact, thanks to the information gathered, they will be able to focus on finding the best setup solutions for their Aprilias, striving for the best possible result on a rather demanding track.
The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini will therefore be attacking Mugello with an obvious dose of pressure, a positive element for an expert team working with a new and developing project.
ROMANO ALBESIANO - RESPONSABILE APRILIA RACING
“For the Mugello weekend we will once again have new upgrades available, especially in terms of electronics, but more than anything, we want to take on each individual session effectively, focusing on the best possible performance straight away. In fact, up to now we have spent a lot of time during race weekends testing setups, often making drastic changes, and this is a necessary process for exploring the potential of the RS-GP and understanding the way the bike reacts to the various changes. This weekend, on the other hand, we will be starting from a stable base and focusing on the setup straight away on a track where smooth riding and agility are absolutely essential and where painstaking work on the chassis and electronics can really make the difference”.
FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER
“For us, the Italian Grand Prix is a very important round. We are particularly keen to make a good impression and to further improve the RS-GP. Unfortunately, because of the rain, the day of tests at Mugello was just about useless. In any case, the important thing is that our development work is progressing well. This is an effort that we hope will allow us to recover 3 to 5 tenths of a second per lap, which would mean shaving 10 to 12 seconds off of race time”.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“We are coming to a very special race, playing on Aprilia's home pitch, where we'll be able to count on new developments for the bike. After the Le Mans race we will be able to start with a better base. In particular, on the race Sunday in France we found the direction we need to go in order to be faster. We will work on that setting and on the new components, that way we'll be able to have a bike that is fast in direction changes and stable at the front end. Battling for a top 10 finish will be hard on such a difficult track, but we are willing to try”.
STEFAN BRADL
“Mugello is a track where we riders have fun racing. The circuit is fantastic, but most of all, the atmosphere and the Italian fans are really welcoming. In terms of layout, it has everything we need: direction changes, slope changes and a long straight stretch. This will be an important race for Aprilia - the first home race - so all eyes will be on us, but I am confident that if we stay focused and patient, we'll continue to demonstrate how our potential is growing”.
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It was a full practice schedule at Le Mans for Aprilia, busy on the track developing the RS-GP which, introduced just before the season opener, demands additional efforts from the mechanics and riders that go beyond simply looking for the best lap times. In the first two sessions today, Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl worked intensely on both testing the new materials that were introduced at Jerez (and partially tested after the race on Monday at Mugello) and on assessing some changes in the tyre options.
Aprilia Racing Team Gresini will focus their efforts on pure performance tomorrow after the usual analysis of today's activities, having all of the data collected at their fingertips to come up with a base configuration where setup is concerned.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“This morning the problem was in coming out of the tight turns with the bike being rather twitchy. In the afternoon we tried to improve in this area, managing to shave a bit off our lap times, but in trying to find more stability we lost a little something in terms of handling. So we need to focus on these issues, trying to improve every time we go out”.
STEFAN BRADL
“Today we really had a lot of work to do, beginning with the last comparisons between the old and new frame we started at Jerez. This is a test that we did in both sessions. We decided to carry on with the new version, which provides some advantages going into turns. But there wasn't much time, so there are still a few things left to sort, especially in terms of the rear. Tomorrow we'll focus our efforts on improving coming out of turns as well, based on what we found today”.
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