A positive first day of practice opened up Aprilia’s Japanese weekend. The RS-GP machines ridden by Bradl and Bautista finished respectively in eleventh and twelfth place in the combined standings for the first two sessions.
Looking for the best setup on the Motegi track, Stefan and Alvaro tested different chassis and electronics configurations, as well as trying out the performance of the tyre options that Michelin has provided for this race. Work in the Aprilia Racing Team garage will continue tomorrow with particular attention on the FP3 times. In fact, this is the morning session where the riders could go straight through to Q2, a result that Aprilia has achieved in the last two championship rounds at Misano and Aragón.
Stefan Bradl, also involved in a harmless crash in FP2, assessed today’s two sessions as positive. Having found a good feeling straight away, the German rider now intends to focus on consistency in his performance. Ninth in the morning session, Alvaro Bautista made a few important changes to the setup for the afternoon without finding any major improvements, but continuing to explore how his RS-GP reacts.
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