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Category: Moto GP
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Conor Cummins will be back on-board the Honda Racing CBR1000RR Fireblade SP this week for the Ulster Grand Prix. Situated just west of Belfast in Northern Ireland, the event takes place on the 7.4-mile Dundrod circuit and is dubbed ‘the world’s fastest road race’.
The ‘Ramsey rocket’ was due to race at the meeting last year for Honda Racing, but had to pull out after sustaining an injury at the Southern 100 in mid-July. Cummins has enjoyed previous success at the UGP, winning the Superbike race in 2009 and is a former lap record holder, something he hopes he can repeat this year.
Cummins will compete for Honda Racing in three Superbike races, with one on Thursday 6 August and two on Saturday 8 August.
For real-time updates follow @HondaRacingCBR
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Stefan Bradl makes his debut on the Aprilia RS-GP alongside Alvaro Bautista
Indianapolis (USA), 4 August 2015 - After the three week summer break the MotoGP engines roar to life for the Indianapolis GP. But even during the holidays there were changes afoot: German rider Stefan Bradl will make his début on the Aprilia RS-GP for the American round. Bradl will then continue throughout the season on the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini alongside Alvaro Bautista.
At exactly the midway point of the season Bradl's contribution could be decisive in continuing the project development process which is Aprilia's primary goal in this rookie year of MotoGP. This is a progressive job that Bautista has been carrying out perfectly from the start of the championship, managing to consistently battle for points and, with the tenth place finish at Barcelona, bringing home a very encouraging result for the entire team's work.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“Stefan is a young rider with a lot of important experience and he's fast, having won the Moto2 world championship title and taking home some good placements in MotoGP in recent years. We are expecting an important contribution from him in developing the RS-GP, working alongside Alvaro Bautista who has done a truly excellent job thus far. I would like to thank Michael Laverty for his efforts and professionalism during the German GP.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“After a three week break we are anxious to get back onto the track. Up to now we have been able to do a lot of work on the RS-GP and with Bautista we have also brought home a few satisfying results, like the tenth place finish in Barcelona and the other five finishes in the points. Now we are ready to get back to work with even more enthusiasm. We are sure that with the arrival of a fast and expert rider like Stefan Bradl alongside Alvaro our progress on the technical front will move along even quicker.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“During the summer break unfortunately I didn't have much time to relax. I would have liked to have spent some time on the beach, but it just wasn't to be. In fact, after the Sachsenring race, my right forearm which had been operated on for compartment syndrome swelled up so I had to do physical therapy and undergo various medical checks. In any case, I'll be going to Indianapolis very focused and intent on picking up on the development work carried out in the first half of the championship: Indianapolis is a very particular track since it was made to be raced on in the opposite direction, but we want to continue gathering important data here as well in order to define next year's bike. I'd also like to welcome Bradl to the team: being able to count on a competitive team mate is definitely positive and I hope that together we'll be able to move forward more quickly on developing the RS-GP.”
STEFAN BRADL
“I can't wait to get to Indianapolis and start this new, great adventure. It obviously won't be easy at the beginning. I'll need to get used to a new team and a new bike, so my main goal in this first Grand Prix is to begin getting to know my mechanics and familiarising myself with the way the bike performs. As for my injured right wrist, the situation is good: I am very pleased because my hand is no longer giving me problems and lately I have been able to do the same training programme that I did before my injury. During the summer break the healing process went well and on Monday the doctors gave me the all-clear to race at Indy. Recently I have also been Motocross training to check my sensations on a bike. I still don't know how I'll feel astride a MotoGP bike, but I think that by the time I arrive at Indianapolis I'll already be close to 100% fitness.”
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Noale, 1 August 2015 - Twenty-five year old German rider Stefan Bradl, 2011 Moto2 World Champion, will take part in the remaining nine 2015 MotoGP World Championship races astride the second Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia RS-GP alongside Alvaro Bautista.
Bradl will make his first appearance on the Aprilia RS-GP at the Indianapolis Grand Prix scheduled from 7 to 9 August.
Born in the Bavarian city of Augusta on 29 November 1989, Stefan Bradl made his debut in World Championship Motorycle racing in the 125cc category in 2005. In 2008 he took two wins and finished the season fourth in the overall standings. In 2010 he moved to Moto2, a category where he would be crowned World Champion the following year thanks to four wins. His rookie year in MotoGP came in 2012 astride a Honda, a bike that Bradl raced for another two seasons, taking a second place finish in the 2013 United States Grand Prix as his best result. This season Bradl has participated in the first eight Grand Prix races on the calendar astride the Forward Racing team Open class Yamaha, earning nine points. A fractured scaphoid in his right wrist suffered during the Dutch GP at Assen forced him to miss his home race at Sachsenring on 12 July.
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Bautista starts working straight away on his race setup, improving from one session to the next. Laverty sizes up his Aprilia RS-GP
Sachsenring (Germany), 10 July 2015 - MotoGP kicks off the second half of the season on the twisting German Sachsenring circuit. Alvaro Bauitista and Michael Laverty took on the first day of free practice with different intentions. If the German weekend is another stop along the Aprilia V4 development path for Alvaro, for Laverty it was, first and foremost, the time to gain confidence with the bike - which he already knows well, since he has been working as a test team rider - in race configuration.
A sliding crash this morning complicated things for Bautista who, fresh from surgery on his right forearm right after the Assen race, was bothered a bit by the injury. In the afternoon the Spanish Aprilia Racing Team Gresini rider in any case was able to get back onto the track, lapping on the same tyres with the clear intention of getting the bike set up for the race on Sunday, but also managing to shave almost 6 tenths of a second off his time from the morning session. Laverty showed consistent progress in FP1 but changing bikes slowed him up in the second session. In the end Bautista closed out the day with the 18th best combined time at 1’23,286. Laverty had the 24th time with 1’24,446.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“Another day of testing and hard work fine tuning. Alvaro was looking good going into turns and riding through them, but we still need to improve traction, so we need to work on improving grip in that condition. Laverty came out of the morning practice session satisfied, ending with the 23rd best time. However, in the afternoon he had to change the bike he had used in FP1, which is the one he felt better on, and with the other one he had a chattering problem that kept him from improving further.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“We are doing a lot of tests on the bike, as usual, but Alvaro, despite the crash which slowed him down this morning, is already in line with our expectations. Tomorrow we would still like to take a step forward because I think that we can really do well on this track. Laverty had a good day of practice and he started off working well with the team.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“This morning I took a spill on turn 11. The problem is that the spot where I had surgery on my arm last week opened up a bit.. But in the afternoon I was still able to ride. We used the same tyre for the entire session in order to find a good setting. Our most important goal is to improve grip at the rear. I need to feel the tyre more on the tarmac.”
MICHAEL LAVERTY
“In FP1 I felt very comfortable in the saddle every time I went out onto the track and in fact I did my best time in the last run. In the afternoon unfortunately I was only able to get one clean run in at the end of the session so I wasn't able to improve. In general I've got a good feeling with the bike. There's room for improvement in terms of grip. Today I tried the rear suspension link like the one Alvaro uses briefly and it seems to make things a bit better, so tomorrow I'll try it on both bikes.”
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After Bautista's good result at Barcelona the Aprilia RS-GPs are on the track to confirm their progress.
Assen (Holland), 23 June 2015 - As per tradition the MotoGP round in Holland - the classic TT - will be raced on Saturday. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini arrives at the Dutch round comforted by Alvaro Bautista's good result in the last race at Barcelona. Alvaro's tenth place finish at Montmelò, although favoured by a few DNFs, is the team's overall best result in this first part of the season and it is a nice injection of confidence for the rest of the championship. In any case, development of the Italian V4s moves forward, taking advantage of every race and every practice session. The Assen weekend will be no exception, especially in light of the fact that the Monday test session after Barcelona was hampered by foul weather.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“The result in Barcelona boosted our morale and it especially confirmed that we improve our race performance compared to the practice sessions, managing to stay in the centre of the group. This, along with the assessment of the various changes introduced from the Mugello round, helps to give us a clear idea on which areas need more work. These are experiences which are in line with the spirit of our test year and Assen will be the same, where we will bring new materials that we weren't able to test at Montmelò on the Monday following the race due to the inclement weather.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“After taking on two fast tracks like Mugello and Barcelona we are switching to a more flowing track where it will definitely be interesting to verify the steps we've taken forward recently. The tenth place that Alvaro brought home from Barcelona really pumps us up: the primary goal is still developing the bike in view of the future, but it's always a pleasure to have a good result and it represents nice compensation for the entire team, which has been working hard. We are expecting another weekend of testing, during which we want to continue gathering important data to move development of the RS-GP forward.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“We are coming to Holland highly motivated thanks to the nice result in Barcelona. We are still a bit disappointed because we could have completed the Spanish trip with some good post-race tests, but the poor weather kept us from doing the work we had scheduled. So we'll bring the material to Assen that we weren't able to evaluate during the tests: we won't have much time to do it, but we'll give it our best shot. The track has a lot of quick direction changes which is an area where we need to improve, so from the first free practice sessions we'll be looking for the best setup to improve our bike's performance in that area. In any case the whole garage is very enthusiastic and we're ready to get down to business.”
MARCO MELANDRI
“We are going to Assen with a bit of concrete optimism. In the Barcelona tests the team provided me with a much longer swingarm that gave me a better feeling. I only took two laps because then it began to rain but I noticed that the sensation was good. I like this track and I'm confident that we'll be taking some steps forward. Alvaro's result gave the team a strong signal of reliability. I see the glass as half full.”
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