MotoGP | IRTA Thailand Test Day 1: A.Espargarò, “Surprising track”

IRTA Aprilia Gresini test The first of the three days of testing at the Chang International Circuit gave some important answers, the most evident of which is the closeness between the times set by the MotoGP riders: in fact, as many as 20 riders were within less than a second. In the Aprilia garage there were, as in the previous Sepang test, a 2017 and a 2018 RS-GP for both Aleix Espargaro' and Scott Redding.

An organization that allows us to continue developing the new prototype, promoted by the pilots in Malaysia, while still being able to count on the availability of a known base for any comparisons and comparisons. Aleix did almost all of today's session using the 2018 RS-GP, gradually becoming familiar with the new track. For the Spaniard there were 62 laps in total, the best of which was 1'31.662. Scott instead used the 2017 bike in the morning for some scheduled tests, getting on the new RS-GP in the afternoon. At the end of the day he covered a total of 59 laps with a best of 1'31.685.

Here are the words of Aleix Espargarò: “The track surprised me, honestly. I had more fun than I thought I would, the first part is not particularly interesting given that it consists of straights connected by braking sections but overall it is a pleasant circuit. Precisely the initial part is the one we need to work on, because we lose a few tenths in accelerations from low speed. In riding, however, we are very competitive, today at the end of the day I got back on the 2017 bike and was able to reconfirm how much the 2018 has improved in this aspect. It is lighter, more responsive, behaves better when cornering so I believe that the correct path is to continue working on the new RS-GP."

Here are the words of Scott Redding: “I have to say that the circuit is more technical than it might seem. The second corner, for example, when you have to brake after a long straight without having any reference to the braking point. Overall I liked it, better than I expected. This morning we had a problem with the 2018 bike, so I used the 2017. It didn't slow us down, because part of our program included testing on last year's bike. In the afternoon, with the 2018 bike, we continued our work trying various things, including the rear handlebar brake because being very tall and having a bulky boot I struggle to operate the pedal."