GREAT START FOR THE APRILIAS, DISCOVERING INDIA

ALEIX IS THIRD AND MAVERICK SIXTH ON A TRACK THAT PROVED TO BE FASCINATING BUT DIFFICULT TO INTERPRET

Ready, set, go! And the Aprilias interpret Buddh Circuit well, an unexplored track for MotoGP located just outside New Delhi. At the end of the first day of practice, Aleix Espargaró is third and Maverick Viñales sixth. This sends both straight through to Q2, the qualifying session tomorrow where spots on the front rows are up for grabs.

From the first session in the morning, the Indian circuit proved to be extremely technical and a difficult “read” both for the riders and for the technicians in the garage. The long straights, with significant braking sections, which alternate with more flowing parts and sweeping turns, immediately highlighted the importance (and the difficulty) of finding optimum settings for each sector of the lap.

In this stage, the Aprilia Racing riders and team worked well, taking both RS-GP machines straight through to Q2. The data collected today will allow them to fine-tune the technical choices for qualifying and the Sprint Race tomorrow, and to improve the setup, obviously still to be decided after just two sessions on a track they had never seen before.

ALEIX
"In general, things went well. The track is quite different that I expected. It’s more stop-and-go and not as flowing. It reminds me of Austin but with less grip. In any case, both in terms of pace and time attack, we were fast, despite some difficulties in the harshest braking sections which we compensate for in the more flowing sections. The track is extremely technical – probably the most technical of the championship – and credit goes to the changes made on the track as well, because in terms of safety, the situation could be improved, but without any really important critical issues."

MAVERICK
"Going through to Q2 was important, but I must admit that I was unable to be as fast as I would have liked in terms of pace. We made a lot of changes between the two sessions, but without finding any real improvement, so that makes me think that there is plenty of margin. I struggled especially in braking, a bit because of the dirty track and the consequent lack of grip, and because of the still imperfect settings. I know that my technicians will be working on the RS-GP to give me more confidence tomorrow."