ALEIX ESPARGARO'
“Even if today was not the best of the three days, I am still happy with our work. At the beginning I started with a good feeling, managing to be fast even on used tyres. Maybe it was partially because of these good sensations that I pushed a bit too hard with the soft tyre, crashing while I was doing a good lap. The bike was repaired quickly, but a second crash forced me to use the other RS-GP with a less advanced engine and electronics that were not perfectly dialled in. For this reason I was unable to improve in the second part of the session, but I see the glass as half full. We have improved our pace and our level is definitely better than our standings on the time sheets show.”

ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER
“We are finishing the tests well aware that we have a bike with very good chassis architecture, with excellent capacity going into corners, turning and grip when leaned over. We need to improve the traction when the bike is almost upright and engine performance that has improved but which, on tracks like this one, counts for a lot. We confirmed the progress our project is making here. Today Aleix was held up by two crashes but he had the potential to lap in the mid to high 54 range and to keep up with the leaders. He was fast on a track that is certainly not our favourite and he was efficient in terms of race pace, since he showed that he can lap easily at mid to high 55. Sam also did very well, despite the fact that he fell a couple of times too. He improved consistently over the three days, showing that he has the potential to do well. Now we have two weeks to finalize our work and turn up at the first race with goals that are within reach for us, well aware that we have room to improve throughout the season.”