Everyone had their moment of glory in 2016 and their victory in MotoGP, even Jack Miller, Suzuki, Andrea Iannone, Marc VDS, LCR, Andrea Dovizioso, etc. Everyone… except Aprilia which was really struggling and only obtained three seventh places as best results in Argentina, Japan and Malaysia. Seventh in MotoGP is already not so bad. But the comparison is harsh when private teams like LCR and Marc DVS Racing take victory at Assen, Brno and Phillip Island.
Aprilia created a nice surprise during the second day of testing in Qatar, with an excellent fifth time for Aleix Espargaro, 0.666 behind Maverick Vinales.
This is the best result the Aprilia RS-GP 2017 has obtained since the start of the year in testing, only on its third outing. Beyond the excellent time achieved, the Spaniard from Aprilia Racing Team Gresini completed 34 laps, continuing the development of the new bike and obtaining positive information throughout the long day of testing.
As Aleix Espargaro explained, “ I had good feelings today, despite a crash in a fast corner which cost us time. We didn't get to test everything we planned, but we certainly took a big step forward in terms of setup. Especially in the corners, which was one of our biggest limitations yesterday. Tomorrow we will continue to work on the geometry in preparation for the race and, above all, we will do a long run. »
Second day results:
1- Maverick Vinales – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’54.455
2- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 + 0.277
3- Jonas Folger – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 + 0.462
4- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V + 0.577
5- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP + 0.666
6- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V + 0.741
7- Alvaro Bautista – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP + 0.790
8- Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP + 0.889
9- Scott Redding – Octo Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP + 0.898
10- Johann Zarco – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 + 0.899
11- Karel Abraham – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP15 + 0.965
12- Andrea Iannone – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR + 1.090
13- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP + 1.128
14- Danilo Petrucci – Octo Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP + 1.225
15- Loris Baz – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP15 + 1.353
16- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V + 1.420
17- Alex Rins – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki GSX-RR + 1.655
18- Tito Rabat – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V + 1.759
19- Jack Miller – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V + 1.796
20- Sam Lowes – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP + 1.821
21- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 + 2.193
22- Bradley Smith – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 + 2.812
23- Mika Kallio – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 + 3.233
