Riders struggle with traction in Barcelona

Posted on Sep 25, 2020 by Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

The biggest concern for the riders on the first day of practice in Barcelona was, from the start, the difficulty finding the right level of traction. It is a particularly demanding situation in preparing for the race, where the bike/tyres package setup must provide the most consistent performance possible.

In any case, the Aprilia riders managed to improve their pace significantly between the two sessions, with Bradley shaving more than half a second off his time between FP1 and FP2, focusing on pace, as the two long runs he did during the afternoon session demonstrate.

Bradley Smith:
"I think it was a demanding day for everyone, especially in terms of rear grip. It seems rather difficult to get the tyre up to temp here, partly because it is a bit cooler than the usual situation here. It will take a few laps to find the right feeling and I'm curious to see what happens tomorrow since I don’t think it will be possible to aim for a flying lap in FP3 and qualifying, but to increase pace gradually instead. Historically, we stress the tyre less with the RS-GP and this is a disadvantage for us at the moment. We need to analyse the data and try to make improvements where that is concerned.