If Ducati seems to be giving a festival from the start of the three days of testing at Sepang, essential in preparing for the upcoming 2023 MotoGP season, Aprilia is just as spontaneously asserting itself as the brand to watch. The official Noale drivers, Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró, follow the leading trio of Martin, Bagnaia and Bastianini at midday, with these comments, to say the least, laudatory on their 2023 version of the RS-GP. And again, listen the oldest of the set, the best would still be to come…
Aprilia impressed during the Shakedown by an avalanche of novelties and aerodynamic audacity and it was not with the first hours of the ongoing Sepang tests that brought down Noale's bellows. At half-time of the first of three days, Maverick Vinales was excellent with a fourth place. He lost 0,568 seconds on the best time of George Martin and left his colleague of the brand Aleix Espargaró just behind by 0,019 seconds.
« We focused a lot on the comparison between the old and new bikes ", explained the nine-time MotoGP winner and 3 Moto2013 World Champion. " I feel like the new bike is better than last year's machine. Now it's a matter of getting used to the Aprilia 2023 even better. So far everything in this build is positive, I haven't noticed anything negative. This is a good sign for the first day ».
« Another evolution of the Aprilia engine will come because we need a few more horses«
He adds : " during the break after 13:30 p.m. we went to the pits, took a break and analyzed all the data ", said Casa Particular in Viñales. “ For now, my work with the Aprilia 2022 is complete. But we'll do with a few rounds every now and then to compare. But the priority now is to further improve the sensations with the new bike ».
On the progress observed, he analyzes: “ nothing has changed with the brakes. But now I like the way the bike handles in right turns. I also have the impression that the bike is more maneuverable, at least it seems to me, as well as when changing direction. I don't know what the top speed looks like, we haven't checked that yet. And as a driver, you don't notice if you're hurtling down the straight 2 or 3 km/h faster ". And he ends: “ generally, I feel like I can use my natural riding style a lot more with this machine. It's rewarding and enjoyable. The feeling was very good from the first moment ».
His teammate Aleix Espargaró added on GP One : « the cooling of the bike has improved, especially because here in Sepang it is very hot. We have a lot of new aerodynamics, we will test some of them here and others during the Portimao tests, and the engine also took a step forward ". From this point of view, Noale engineers are still at work. “ Here we have an evolution of the engine, but another will come because we need a few more horsepower ».
