Bautista and Melandri are keen to confirm the progress demonstrated during the last race in Argentina

Jerez (Spain), 28 April 2015 - Aprilia Racing Team Gresini comes to the first European round to confirm the initial progress demonstrated by the RS-GP bikes in the American rounds. At Austin the first point was earned thanks to Bautista's placement and in Argentina the gap behind the leaders and the central pack of bikes and riders was reduced significantly with Melandri almost catching his team mate up.

The classic round on the Jerez track is just around the corner to confirm and consolidate this growth process which is the primary goal of the 2015 season for the Italian team. The first set of European races should also allow the team to work more on the bikes and accelerate development.


ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
"The first three races showed us just how big a challenge we accepted by entering MotoGP a year ahead of schedule. It's no surprise but rather it confirms that the level of bikes and riders, grown compared to recent seasons, is very high. For this reason we are looking at our initial progress as a positive and important sign. In particular in Argentina both riders crossed the wire, reduced the gap behind the leaders and finished just a few seconds (just over four) behind that central pack which is our goal at the moment. Marco has also come much closer to Alvaro in confirmation of his improved feeling with the bike. These are all important indications that we need to confirm. The next few weeks will also let us to speed up development on the RS-GP, an operation which is quite complex during non-European rounds, following the indications that can out of this first part of the season."

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“At Jerez the long European season of the Championship begins on a track where we have already tested. It would be nice to be able to take a few more steps forward. After all, in Argentina we already showed that we can fight for positions from twelfth on, which is in line with our expectations. We'll keep working to grow step by step, determined and strongly motivated.”

ALVARO BAUTISTA
"Like every year the Jerez round is a special occasion for me. There will be a lot of fans there to support me. We'll keep working hard on developing the bike like we did both in Austin and in Argentina, hoping to be able to identify new valid solutions. The track is very difficult with all kinds of turns so it will be important to work well on the setup and on power distribution as well because there are a lot of sections where the bikes restart at low speeds where good grip is needed.”

MARCO MELANDRI
“The Jerez track is really nice but it is also quite difficult and complete from a technical point of view with both slow turns and fast turns. Restarting after the slow curves is a particularly demanding situation where we need to improve but I'm counting a lot on the technical changes that Aprilia has prepared for this round. I hope that they will let us take another step forward. We'll be putting forth our best effort as always.”