ON THE CZECH TRACK BAUTISTA AND BRADL ARE READY TO CONFIRM THE PROGRESS MADE BY THE RS-GP

Just a few days after the Austrian GP, MotoGP is back on the track at Brno, the historic Czech Republic circuit. It is a race with high expectations for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini following the progress demonstrated at the Red Bull Ring in terms of technical growth for the fledgling RS-GP.

Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl, who both had their race in Austria compromised by a double ride through because of jump starts, showed absolutely respectable times during the race in terms of pace. On a track like Brno, theoretically more suited to the qualities of the Aprilia technical package than the Austrian track, all the conditions are there to aim for a good result.

ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER
“Brno is a track where we were able to bring home points last year with both riders. On paper, it seems to suit our bike well. We are coming from a weekend where tangible progress was seen. In the Czech Republic, we'll aim to confirm that progress by maximizing the result. Specifically, we will be working with qualifying in mind, a situation where we still have some limitations. We are looking good in terms of race pace, whereas in qualifying our rivals manage to improve their performance by about a half a second. By not succeeding in being incisive on the flying lap, we are often forced to start from behind and that makes managing the race much more complicated. In particular we will be working on the rear settings, looking for more grip that will allow us to exploit the performance of the qualifying tyre”.

FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER
“We are coming to Brno determined to bounce back. Despite the result, conditioned by the penalties assigned to both our riders for a jump start, at the Red Bull Ring we had excellent feedback on the competitiveness of the RS-GP. In fact, during the race, Alvaro made top-six lap times, demonstrating that a big step forward has been taken. The technical innovations Aprilia brought, including engine changes, proved to be effective and in the Czech Republic we would like to reap the benefits of this progress. We know that we can do well, so it will be important to stay focused and not make any mistakes”.

ALVARO BAUTISTA
“We are coming to Brno highly motivated. Despite the jump start problem and the display issue, in Austria performance throughout the weekend was positive, especially in terms of our race pace. The track is very different. There are no demanding braking sections like at the Red Bull Ring, but you need to make sure the bike flows well. Technically, you need a bike that is both easy to handle and that has good acceleration. The straights are not very long, but they are rather demanding in terms of power. I think that the advantages we found in Austria with the new engine will also help us in Brno. We will start off focused straight away from Friday, with the goal of finding a good pace and perhaps also improving performance in qualifying”.

STEFAN BRADL
“Having a race straight away after the Austrian round gives us the chance to bounce back immediately. The circuit definitely suits the RS-GP better than the Red Bull Ring, so our chances of showing our competitive we are increase straight away. Last year, in my second race with Aprilia, I made a good finish in the points after a positive weekend. We will need to stay focused and set our sights on the best possible result”.‬