Argentina GP: “BEST DAY THUS FAR WITH OUR NEW APRILIA RS-GP”
The 26-year-old MotoGP rider was able to report about satisfactory progress after day two of practice at the South American round.
Changed conditions with more ambient temperatures than yesterday was obviously a help for Bradl and the still young project in form of the all-new Aprilia RS-GP. However, Bradl was able to set decent lap times throughout every Saturday’s sessions and to qualify for 16th spot on the grid is a big step forward too in comparison to last time at the opening round in Qatar two weeks ago. In any case, today’s performance underlined the potential of the project but foremost it made good prerequisites for a possible continuation of this steady form rise for tomorrow’s race day. However, there still remaining a big question mark in terms of tyre option for the race.
Due to a rear-tyre failure involving Scott Redding during today’s FP4 session, Michelin has made the decision to not make either rear tyre available for tomorrow’s race, siting concerns for safety. Instead, a special-compound tyre that is brought for such occasions will be introduced. Four of these tyres will be made available to each rider in the MotoGP field. In order for the teams and riders to adapt to the situation, Race Direction has added an extra 30-minute free-practice session before the normal 20-minute warm-up session.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia), Grid position 16th – 1´40.897 (7/8):
“This was definitely the best day with our new RS-GP so far. We made a lot of progress compared to yesterday. But we know that we could be faster if we got all the small details sorted. It was in FP4 where we made the important step forward, particularly where the electronics concerned and with a change to the rear shock. During the Qualifying session our strategy paid off using two new rear tyres. In doing so I was able to set a strong lap time. But now we just need to wait and see how the decision for the tyres will be. We’re quite ready for the race but we need to wait and see how the new tyre will work we will collect for race day.”
MotoGP™ Qualifying Classification:
1 #93 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 1´39.411
2 #99 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 1´39.786 +0.375
3 #46 Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 1´39.944 +0.533
16 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia / 1´40.897 +1.486