FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE IN ARGENTINA

IN EXTREMELY TIGHT STANDINGS, TWELVE RIDERS WITHIN HALF A SECOND, THE APRILIAS AIM FOR Q2 ANDREA IMPROVES GREATLY AND AFTER A NICE FIFTH TIME IN FP1 FINISHES 11TH ALEIX, FOCUSING ON RACE PACE, IS ALSO JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP TEN

The times from the first day of practice in anticipation of the Argentina GP show Andrea Iannone on a decidedly upward trend. As his confidence astride the RS-GP increases, Andrea shines in his first session, finishing with the fifth best time (1’40.366). In the afternoon session, Iannone was a bit faster (1’39.654), earning the eleventh-place spot in extremely tight standings where the top twelve are all within 516 thousandths of one another. Aleix also finished just outside the top ten, hot on the pipes of his Aprilia Racing Team Gresini teammate, with a time of 1’39.697. For him, the first day returned good indications on pace over the long run, so he will continue this approach tomorrow as well. Given the characteristics of the impending race, performance in the second half could be one of the decisive factors for number 41.

ALEIX ESPARGARO' “Not a bad day at all. With the medium tyre, we lapped in the mid 40s and with the soft in the mid-high 39s. It would only have taken 3 or 4 tenths to end the day even in the top five, but what we need to do is stay focused on the race. We all saw that rear tyre wear is very high here and we’ll need to work to prevent wheel spin as much as possible, because I’m sure that the real race will begin after at least ten laps. If we are well sorted in the second half of the race, we’ll be able to battle for important positions.”

ANDREA IANNONE “I'm pleased because we are continuing on the path we had set out for ourselves. We started well today and ended the day a half a second from the winner of the last race. This is an improvement that I don’t think anyone expected from Aprilia in such a short amount of time. The team is working well. We are a good group with very clear ideas. We saw once again today just how competitive MotoGP is, with 20 riders all within one second of one another. A nice battle for all the fans. Our goal now is to go through to Q2. That would be further demonstration of our consistent growth.”

COMBINED STANDINGS