POSITIVE START ABOARD HIS APRILIA IN INDY
Indianapolis, Friday 7 August – Stefan Bradl experienced his debut aboard the Italian MotoGP bike on Friday with positive comments given to his technicians.
The first day of practice at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway went underway with sunny skies as Bradl making his debut aboard the Aprilia RS-GP, which he will ride for the remaining season. The first laps allowed him to get familiarized with the bike and his new team, but limiting himself and his crew to work on small changes to the setup. Attention was focused on ergonomics, the position of the foot pegs and the handlebar as well for the conformation of the right position in order to find a comfortable seat position. The conclusion of the first day of work was definitely positive even Bradl faces a lot of work ahead of him. However, Aprilia delivered a competitive bike with predictable reactions, particularly like the electronics and the seamless gearbox. Bradl finished day one in Indiana in 20th position of the combined practice times as he was able to better his lap time by 1.5 seconds between both Friday’s sessions.
#6 Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia), FP1: 22. – 1´36.444 (15/19) / FP2: 20. – 1´34.935 (11/17):
“I’m very happy with the work done today. This morning I took on an entirely new situation for new to see how professional my new environment is and that gave me a lot of confidence. Of course it’s still too early to make any kind of real assessments with just two practice session’s und our belts but we did an excellent job during our first outing together. This of course is definitely positive and the bike’s basic performance is good, so I’m pleased at all. We still have a lot of work ahead of us because we just must try and stay focused as we’ll need to continue working on a lot of aspects. However, I think we’re capable of improving step by step. For my side I also need to be careful because I still feel a bit of pain in my right wrist which in any case doesn’t bother me at riding for the moment. I hope it will not get worse but it won’t be easy anyway because I’ve been out of the saddle for six weeks.”
Combined Practice Times FP1/FP2:
1 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 1´32.860 (FP2)
2 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 1´32.863 +0.003 (FP2)
3 Andrea Dovizioso / ITA / Ducati Team / Ducati / 1´33.155 +0.295 (FP2)
20 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia / 1´34.495 + 2.075 (FP2)