Alvaro Bautista’s tenth place and Stefan Bradl’s twelfth in the race demonstrate the progress that the Aprilia RS-GP machines showed throughout the weekend. The many changes tested in recent weeks and brought to the race at Misano gave the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders a positive approach from the very first sessions. Bautista going through to Q2 – the first time for the fledgling RS-GP – and Bradl’s excellent fifth row spot on the grid were the prelude to an extremely solid race for the two.
Alvaro started well from the fourth row, but contact with another rider in the second lap cost him a few positions, precluding any chance of an even better final result. After closing the gap behind the rider ahead of him, he battled with teammate Stefan and Petrucci to then pull away with a consistent pace that allowed him to easily defend a significant tenth place finish. Bradl also rode a very solid race, finishing twelfth.
Alvaro Bautista: I was able to pull away after I passed them
“I am happy because we rode a good race and had a good weekend. We knew that, despite going through to Q2, it would be a hard battle to get into the top ten and that is our goal. I started well, but in the second lap I lost a few positions because of contact with another rider, so I had to push hard to come back. Then, in the first laps, I had a strange feeling with the rear tyre. We don’t know why, but the bike slid around a lot. Then the situation went back to normal and I was able to maintain a good pace. I battled with Stefan and Petrucci, but once I overtook them I was able to pull away without any problems and I held my pace until the end. This was a decidedly positive weekend. We did a lot of good work finding new solutions for the bike and we improved, so I would like to thank Aprilia and the entire team for that. Now we want to continue moving in this direction to improve even more in the next portion of the season”.
Stefan Bradl: The result is not bad
“The weekend had started off well, but then a few problems kept me from using the evolution frame consistently. So for the race it was hard to choose which configuration to use and in the end I preferred the standard chassis. Unfortunately, it did not prove to be the best solution. I struggled with braking, the area where the new frame could have provided more advantages. In any case, the race result is not bad, considering the circumstances. I am back to finishing in the points. We showed some good signs during the weekend and we definitely learned a lot for the season finale”.
Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko