Aprilia Racing’s Romano Albesiano says the Italian manufacturer has taken a step forward in 2017 – with both the engine and chassis. Following the first official test of the year at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, the Italian talked motogp.com through the Noale factory’s first test of the year and how Aleix Espargaro and Sam Lowes are settling into life with the team.
Romano Albesiano: “The conclusion is that our bike has made a step compared to last year in terms of the chassis and engine, so I would say it couldn’t be better than this. Technically speaking it’s not always easy to get this kind of result, so it’s a good base for starting the season.
“The riders were new, some Chief Mechanics were new, so this is a mechanism that has to be together. It’s a big positive; the work of both riders has been very different because we Aleix [Espargaro] is a very experienced rider and a very fast, so we asked him to focus on the development and he did it very well. With Sam [Lowes] we just asked him to get used to the MotoGP bike and sometimes he needs some more support because he so fast and we really believe in him, which he showed very well.”