APRILIA LOOKING FOR CONFIRMATION AT THE FIRST ROUND IN THE AMERICAS

AFTER THE PROMISING DÉBUT, ESPARGARÓ AND IANNONE TACKLE THE ARGENTINIAN ROUND

Before heading to Europe, the MotoGP World Championship will be making its usual stop on the other side of the Atlantic for the two races on the American continent. The first round will be on the Argentinian Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, built in 2007 and added to the MotoGP calendar in the 2014 season. It is a rather fast track (more than 170 km/h average) with plenty of treachery, especially in terms of grip conditions. The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini will arrive at the Argentinian race after a solid début in Qatar. In the first race, Aleix rode the new RS-GP into the top ten, finishing close to the leaders and – most importantly – gleaning good sensations throughout the entire weekend. On the track in the desert, growth was constant session after session, both for Espargaró and for Iannone. In fact, on his first true long run astride the RS-GP, Andrea also finished in the points. It was his début on the Aprilia V4 and the fact that he kept the gap behind the leading group to a minimum is a testament to his progress. For both riders, the goal is now to continue growing along with the new bike, keeping their sights set on the points zone.

ALEIX ESPARGARO' "The Argentinian track is one that I like and where I have always been rather competitive. I can't wait to get back on the track. The important thing for us is to keep finishing in the top-10 in the next two races so we can arrive at Jerez with a nice bounty of points and confidence. The 2019 RS-GP is very fast in fifth and sixth. I hope to be able to take advantage of this improvement on the long straight at Termas."

ANDREA IANNONE "In our first weekend, we worked well, demonstrating that we are on the right path. If I look at the previous years, Aleix has been fast with Aprilia on the Rio Hondo track and I hope we will be this year too. In any case, our priority is not the result in the strictest sense, but rather constant improvement of the RS-GP that brings us closer to the championship leaders."