After a GP with some good positives for Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, riders Aleix Espargaro and Scott Redding are back out on track at the Circuit of the Americas following the race weekend – with testing duty lighting up Texas.
With the new engine to put through its paces, the Noale factory will be maximising track time – but Espargaro was positive after the race. “The bike was good today, the engine was very fast,” said the Spaniard. “I didn’t want to risk to much because the first two races were DNFs, but I’m satisfied because the weekend was tough and the first two races we had some problems with the fuel consumption.”
On the test, Aprilia Racing Director Romano Albesiano says it's to further investigate why COTA is such a challenge,
"Last year we struggled a lot on this track, we were interested in having one more day to get to the bottom of certain issues," says Albesiano. "It seems that this season we have struggled much less. COTA has very challenging parts of track where you have to turn without braking and where the 'turning' of the bike is put to the test. It is also famous for its very low speed acceleration, an area in which we have to work. We also have many new components to test and things we've worked on, like the fuel system - as well as others that we can't reveal. And at Mugello, or maybe before, we will try the carbon swingarm "