SATURDAY MOTOGP QUALIFIERS AT AUSTIN. BAUTISTA ENDS THE DAY IN 23rd PLACE, 25th FOR MELANDRI

Austin (USA), 11 April 2015 - In the final free practice sessions (FP3 and FP4) and in the qualifying session that determines the starting grid order, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini continued working on development of the RS-GP bikes.

After finishing in 19th place in FP3, Bautista had to forego the bike he had used for that time due to a technical problem. I wasn't able to find that feeling and he had to settle for a time of 2'05,595, taking 23rd place which places him on the eighth row of the starting grid tomorrow.
In the decisive session Marco Melandri improved his time (2'07,267) compared to the free practice sessions, but not enough to move up from 25th place which puts him on the ninth row for tomorrow's race.

ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
"We used Alvaro's second bike for a few tests on various settings but a problem with the first bike toward the end of FP4 forced him to take the bike that he had less of a feeling with onto the track. For the race we need to go back to the standard we had in the free practice sessions, which will definitely give us better results than what we did in the qualifiers."

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
"We are working hard and obviously in this period it isn't a simple thing to translate our efforts into performance straight away. In any case, we were able to get a glimpse of a hint of improvement from Alvaro during the weekend. Of course we want to begin making more progress, but we knew that in these rounds so far from Europe it wouldn't be easy because there isn't much time to react and make significant changes. Tomorrow we want to finish the race to rack up some more miles and precious experience."

ALVARO BAUTISTA
"We worked a lot on the electronics to have better power management, trying a lot of solutions that will also be useful for the future. But for the qualifiers I was forced to take out the other bike with a different setup and I wasn't able to take advantage of all the work we had done up to that point. It's a shame because I'm sure I would have been able to lap faster. For tomorrow the unknown is the weather. If we have a wet race it will be important to set a good pace straight away. In any conditions, and considering how things went in Qatar, the important thing will be to finish the race."

MARCO MELANDRI
"Until we get back to Europe and can count on more consistent developments we'll just have to grit our teeth and try to learn from each session. Only when I'm completely at ease in the saddle will I be able to push the way I'd like to."