MotoGP Barcelona, ​​GP: best result of the season for Bautista 10th, Melandri retired due to gearbox problems

MotoGP 2015 Catalunya GP: Aprilia Racing, for the Iberian trip, had brought a lot of material to test which required extraordinary work paces. However, the first results have finally arrived. Also helped by some falls among the best, Alvaro Bautista achieved the best result of the season: a 10th place achieved thanks to a good start which allowed him to stay in the middle of the group and come out on top in the duel with Jack Miller.
The team is happy with this result which boosts morale in view of the long development work still underway.
Those who certainly did not benefit from this injection of confidence are Marco Melandri who, having started 24th, had to retire after only 7 laps due to a technical problem with the gearbox.

“After a good start, thanks to which I recovered some positions – he explained Alvaro Bautista – I faced the first laps of the race trying not to be too aggressive to preserve the tyres; in fact, we knew that their performance would drop significantly. The track conditions were very difficult, with very little grip, so I wasn't able to push as hard as I did in practice. Today, in any case, we witnessed many crashes and therefore it was important to get to the finish line: we did it and we are happy because we were able to gather more experience with the bike and other precious data to improve in view of the next events. At the end I enjoyed fighting with Miller, I felt I was faster than him and finally, after we overtook each other several times, with two laps to go I managed to gain a bit of a margin and thus enter the top ten".

“I had a different set-up than usual and I was counting on taking a step forward, but unfortunately bad luck struck with a problem with the gearbox, between third and fourth right from the first lap – the words of disappointment from Marco Melandri. However, it is normal considering that we are at the second GP with seamless. Let's see in the tests tomorrow to continue the work that we weren't able to do today. I congratulate Bautista for making it into the top ten. It's a good omen for everyone."