Aleix Espargaro shared his deliberation over the new machine onboard the all-new Aprilia RS-GP after clocking the fastest time on the first day's pre-season testing in Losail, Qatar.
“Yes, the bike doesn’t seem like a revolution but to ride it is quite different.
“Especially regarding the stability, we made a big advance because the bike is much more stable as well as the aerodynamic side they did a big, big job. The bike is totally different. In acceleration, I feel that we made one improvement, and also the bike has a lot more downforce, therefore the bike is physical, more than last season’s bike.
“It is more stable, to ensure that allows me to accelerate better, that is more than welcome. We are paying a little bit on the top speed, therefore we still need to discover the balance, and we still have to comprehend the bike to determine the strong points and also the weak points,” he explained.
However, Espargaro was 15km/h slower than Ducati’s Jack Miller with the speed trap.
Nonetheless, the Spanish rider explained that they had to sacrifice speed to achieve better aerodynamics.
“t’s very, really low. It’s less than our top speed from last season, and we're losing 15km/h towards the Ducati, so there is room to improve there. But as I only say, the aerodynamics allow you to turn better or otherwise, to accelerate more or less, and to make pretty much top speed,” he was quoted saying.
Espargaro clocked 1 minute 54.687s to emerge the fastest during the first day, followed by Stephan Bradle and reigning world champion Joan Mir.
