Like every year at mid-season, representatives of the six manufacturers involved in MotoGP are invited to a press conference to answer questions from journalists.
In Barcelona, Honda with Takeo Yokoyama (HRC Technical Manager), Suzuki with Ken Kawauchi (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Aprilia with Paolo Bonora (Aprilia Racing) have expressed themselves thus, while Yamaha, Ducati and KTM will do so at Le Mans.
Today we report the words of Paul Bonora, Aprilia Racing Track Manager, who did the exercise, and don't ask us where Romano Albesiano was...
Paolo, there was a lot of hope for the new Aprilia RS-GP 2020 after winter testing, but MotoGP has never been so competitive...
Paolo Bonora : " You are quite right. During the winter tests we saw that our 2020 RS-GP had progressed a lot compared to the previous one. Unfortunately, we initially had a problem at the start of the season with the engine, regarding reliability. We therefore asked other manufacturers to have the possibility of changing the specifications of the pistons compared to what had been approved. And we would like to thank the other manufacturers for this authorization. At the moment we are working very hard on the engine because we saw during the winter tests that the bike is good in corners and in terms of its handling in changes of direction. But at the moment we are still a little weak on the engine side, so our main concern is to work on this one. Of course, this is to gain power, because there is never enough for the rider, but we are also working on the usability of the engine, in the sense that we are looking for a better connection at the opening of the throttle to provide maximum confidence and acceleration to drivers. At the moment, unfortunately, we are not seeing the improvements we have made on the bike on the track, because we only have one rider. Of course, Bradley Smith is a good test driver but having Iannone on the track would have given us a different situation. We are therefore struggling a lot because at the moment we only have Aleix Espargaró who is attacking a lot to be able to develop the bike. We are also looking to improve Bradley so that he has the same confidence as the official rider when riding the bike. »
Does the fact that Bradley participates in races and therefore cannot devote himself exclusively to development also limit you?
« Absolutely ! You are quite right. Covid-19 certainly makes the development of the engine and the motorcycle difficult for each manufacturer. In our case, we try to do as many tests as we can during the race, but as you know, it is difficult to carry out a test during the race without losing performance to the driver. So at the moment we are focused on the test team, but having Bradley Smith involved in the races is a difficult situation for us. We are nevertheless trying to carry out some tests with Bradley during the races. »
What is the share of responsibility for performance between the rider, the team and the bike?
« I completely agree with the other manufacturers: The balance between the team, the rider and the bike is completely equal. We certainly need to make progress in every part of our work. »
Photo credit : MotoGP.com
