Bautista does his best qualifying for a spot on the seventh row with the nineteenth best time. Eighth row for Melandri

Termas de Rio Hondo (Argentina), 18 April 2015 - Saturday qualifiers for Aprilia Racing Team Gresini leading up to the Argentinian GP.
After the last two free practice sessions which both Melandri and Bautista spent looking for the best setups for the race tomorrow, the Spaniard rode his RS-GP to the 19th best time in qualifiers that determine the starting order on the grid. This is his best result in this early phase of the season which has the V4 from Noale making its début and it earns him the best spot on the seventh row. Marco Melandri, who closed the gap behind the pack throughout the weekend, finished with the 24th best time, placing himself on the eighth row.


ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
"It was a good day. We lapped the entire day with good times, improving the bikes compared to yesterday and also identifying directions for development of the chassis. I would say that the qualifiers were good for both riders. Both Alvaro and Marco were a bit disappointed because of a few tenths of a second lost during their good laps, but at the moment it is encouraging to see the gaps closing behind those who are in front of us. I'm also pleased that Marco is gradually closing the gap behind his team mate. That is very important for us."

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
"We worked a lot in various directions. Both to improve performance and to have the most possible data to work with when we get back home. All in all I'm pleased with the qualifiers. Tomorrow will be a difficult race to manage in terms of tyre wear and I think that we'll even be able to improve compared to the practice sessions. I'm happy that Marco has gotten significantly closer to the pack in front of him. It is encouraging even if we know how much work we need to do to improve."

ALVARO BAUTISTA
"We worked hard and well. In the morning we tried a chassis setup which was quite different than yesterday to improve performance in turns and we were able to gain a bit. In FP4 we tested with the hard front tyre to see if it might be an option for the race, but I didn't feel very confident with it so we'll be using the medium tomorrow. In the qualifiers I just tried to be as precise as possible. It's a shame that in the two good laps I lost a few tenths, but it is still a good day. Looking after the tyres will be essential tomorrow, especially in the first laps."

MARCO MELANDRI
"I thought I would have improved more compared to yesterday, especially in the qualifiers. We need to find more grip at the rear and to improve stability in order to close out the turns better. This is a fundamental condition for me to be able to really push."

Assen (Holland), 18 April 2015 - The Dutch Saturday for Team Aprilia Racing - Red Devils started off well with Leon Haslam's first place time in the third practice session held this morning. The English rider was fast despite the low temperatures, demonstrating that the path the mechanics have been following on the RSV4 RF throughout the weekend with the entire team is the right one.

His race pace is also good, although Leon still wants to improve on following the ideal line for several consecutive laps. This is an idea where Haslam has a clear idea, since he has already identified the sectors where he needs to make changes in order to have a uniform feeling throughout the track on his Aprilia.

In Superpole, as demonstration of the speed the English-Italian duo has reached, Haslam was the quickest on a race tyre. Back in the garage with the qualifier tyre mounted Leon pushed to the limit, putting the third best time on the sheets in the end, which earns him a spot on the front row for the races tomorrow.

Leon Haslam: "As for the flying lap on a race tyre we are quite fast as we demonstrated even in Superpole, but in terms of consistency we still have some work to do in order to be able to easily repeat our performance. We are definitely making progress. Ironically, the qualifier tyre doesn't help us so in the end third place was a pleasant surprise. Just like at Aragon we are expecting a difficult mission, but considering how close we were able to get in Race 2 I think we will be able to do well here tomorrow."

Spanish rookie Jordi Torres is still lacking the right experience to be able to take full advantage of the particular rear Pirelli qualifier tyre (exclusive to Superbike) on his RSV4. The eighth best time he took in Superpole does not fully satisfy Jordi, who on the other hand is very positive about the improvement he demonstrated today. The fourth best time in FP3 and fifth in FP4 are encouraging in view of tomorrow's races, especially if Jordi and his team can manage to shave off a few more tenths.

Jordi Torres: "Yesterday we improved quite a bit, but today we took a definite step forward. I'm still lacking a few tenths on my race pace and here at Assen a good feeling with the front end is important, so there is still room for improvement in that area. In Superpole I was lacking experience. I still am unable to take 100% advantage of the soft tyre. I really need to change my style because with so much grip the bike reacts differently. After the first lap where I was trying to figure out how to use the qualifier tyre I tried to push hard in order to get another fast time on the boards, but I didn't have any more grip toward the end. Anyway what counts are the races tomorrow."

Lorenzo Savadori, who rides the Team Nuova M2 Racing Aprilia RSV4 RF on Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, will start in front of the rest tomorrow after taking pole position in the qualifiers.

Bautista and Melandri, even on dodgy asphalt, worked hard in free practice developing the RS-GP bikes

Termas de Rio Hondo (Argentina), 17 April 2015 - Just a week after the American round in Austin, which brought Aprilia Racing Team Gresini their first point thanks to Alvaro Bautista's placing, MotoGP begins practice for the Argentinian GP. The first two sessions on the Termas de Rio Hondo track were conditioned by the condition of the tarmac. The quite dirty and not very rubberised surface create a particular tyre wear situation.

Even in these conditions Bautista (11th in the morning and 22nd in the second session) and Melandri (19th in FP1 and 24th in FP2) moved forward working on the evolution of the RS-GP bikes. In particular Marco, who tested some brand new solutions on his bike, found a better riding feeling compared to all the previous outings.

ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
"After the first laps with the best performance tyre we are losing a lot of traction straight away. Alvaro could also have improved on his flying lap but clearly that cannot be our primary goal. We need to work on this tomorrow although a lot depended on the track which is really destroying the soft tyres quickly in these conditions. Even with the asphalt situation we had Marco made some encouraging progress in terms of his general riding feeling."

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
"This track gave us these problems last year already. Until it gets rubberised it creates problems for the tyres in just a few laps. I think tomorrow things will change. We'll wait for the next sessions to see what the real values are on the track."

ALVARO BAUTISTA
"The track was very hungry today and it ate up all the tyres. Already from this morning we had to use two sets of tyres and in the afternoon I went out with a used tyre. By the end I really didn't have any rubber left to try and improve on my time. Tomorrow we'll have to work hard to improve our grip anyway. But I also think that a better asphalt grip situation will be a great help since such poor traction particularly penalises us."

MARCO MELANDRI
"For the first time I had a decent session. The team did a great job trying some different ideas and implementing some setups that we had never tried before, catering to my needs, and I found a bike that I was able to ride better. Naturally there is still a lot of work to do but it is an improvement. The track conditions will change gradually as it gets more rubberised, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Assen (Holland), 17 April 2015 - The first day of practice at Assen had the Team Aprilia Racing - Red Devils riders improving in leaps and bounds between the two sessions. More than one second improvement for Leon Haslam and an impressive second and a half for Jordi Torres are a symptom of the excellent job done in the garages on the Aprilia RSV4 RFs, a process that will continue today with the customary technical debriefing which should lead to more results tomorrow and in the races on Sunday.

The demanding Dutch track was unable to intimidate expert rider Leon Haslam who concentrated on the job at hand without pushing too hard, leading his mechanics in the right direction. The improvement in the two timed sessions and especially the feeling Leon had on the bike are encouraging for Superpole tomorrow and the races on Sunday.

Haslam rode his RSV4 RF to fourth place in the combined standings with his best lap stopping the clock at 1'36.48.

Leon Haslam: "We made some good progress today. I also used the softer tyre for the first time. We are working well in terms of race strategy rather than on our flying lap. There are still various things we need to work out to get past a few situations that we still need to iron out. We aren't far from the front runners and slowly but surely we're improving, so that means we are on the right path. Tomorrow I think we'll achieve our goal in terms of performance."

One of the particularities of Assen is that there are no real reference points. It is a flat track where any mistake setting up a line can penalise the rider for an entire sector. Precisely for this reason Jordi Torres, in his rookie year on the Aprilia V4 reigning world champion bike, had to adjust his braking points and adapt to the Superbike lines. This was the focus for the morning session, where Jordi put in a lot of consecutive laps precisely to get comfortable on the track, whereas in the afternoon he concentrated on the actual setup, ending the day in sixth place.

Jordi Torres: "Our biggest step today was definitely the rider. I used the first session to get my bearings. Here at Assen I had only lapped in Moto2 and I realised quickly that the braking points and the lines are completely different. In terms of the settings I think the RSV4 is already at a good level. I'm sure we can still improve but it will be up to me to make the difference. Today was a good day."

Message from Prescott Bike Festival...

A massive thank you to all our visitors who turned up in their thousands, the sun shone and we had a great day. Hopefully you were able to join us.

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