Before departing for the long tour in Japan, Australia and Malaysia, the MotoGP championship will take on the penultimate European race on the 2016 calendar. The race will be hosted by Motorland Aragón, a 5,078 metre circuit located in Alcañiz in the autonomous community of Aragona. It is a very complex track, fast thanks to the long straight, but demanding for riders and vehicles alike.
The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini is taking on the Spanish round after good performance in Misano, with Bautista riding his RS-GP straight through to Q2 and then to a top 10 race finish. The Spanish rider and his teammate, Stefan Bradl, tackled two days of tests on the Valencia circuit, both to continue developing the new chassis configurations introduced in recent races and to assess electronic updates aimed mostly at perfecting the V4 engine’s power delivery.
Bautista: Aragon has different characteristics
“I am coming to one of my home rounds highly motivated, especially after the good performance at Misano, going through to Q2 and having a race pace that took us into the top 10. We will pick up from here with the goal of being competitive and improving even more. It will not be easy, but we will try our hardest. Aragón has very different characteristics. It is a complete layout where it will be essential to work well straight away on how to use the tyre, which is usually very stressed here”.
Bradl: The Valencia test gave us confidence
“It is difficult to predict how the RS-GP will perform here at Aragón. We will be able to tell only after the first practice session. I like the track; both the layout and the structures of the circuit are really interesting. There are many corners with different inclinations and direction changes. Overall, it is a fast track since there is also a long straight. I think that the confidence gained in Misano and the two days of testing at Valencia will help us take on this Spanish race with a good package”.
Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko