MAVERICK IS EIGHTH AFTER A GREAT COMEBACK RIDE FROM TWENTIETH PLACE

ALEIX, STOPPED BY A TECHNICAL PROBLEM, LOSES THE CHANCE TO BATTLE FOR A TOP-5 SPOT

The complicated adaptation to the Buddh Circuit, a track that had never before been tested where the first GP of India was held, found the RS-GP machines ready for the race.

But Maverick, who had found a good setup in the warm-up session, was involved in contact on the first corner and he rejoined in twentieth place, at the back of the group. From there, he began a brilliant comeback ride, lapping at extremely fast times and executing spectacular passes and, exploiting a few crashes ahead of him, he finished with an eighth place that screams vendetta for the potential he had demonstrated.

Aleix, also involved in the contact at the start, managed instead to move into ninth place on the first lap, and then he battled for sixth with Binder, who was not far behind Mir (fifth). However, at the mid-race point, he was stopped by a technical problem which is currently being assessed by the Aprilia technicians who have already ruled out any engine failure. The outcome of the race then demonstrated the chance Aleix missed to take home a nice top-five placement.

ALEIX
"It’s a pity to finish the weekend this way. These were three difficult days but today, in spite of everything, I could have made a play for the top five and I felt rather good in the saddle. The problem happened suddenly. What I noticed throughout the weekend was the great amount of heat on the bike and this has created some problems for us in the past. It’s something that we need to analyse because other races in high temperatures are coming up. We don’t have much time available, but I hope that the Aprilia team will be able to resolve the problem."

MAVERICK
"On the first corner I was forced to go wide and found myself in last place. From there, I began to recover, pushing constantly to the limit. In any case, I am extremely happy because I felt very good on the bike. We made great improvements throughout the weekend. This morning in the warm-up session we found a setting that allowed me to brake hard, which was exactly where we struggled most here in India, and the race was the best session of the entire weekend. I really think that we are leaving India having made a huge step forward."