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APRILIA IN GREAT SHAPE IN THE FIRST SESSIONS AT PORTIMÃO

20 November 2020

The Portimão roller coaster proved to be ideal hunting grounds for Aprilia, thanks to a super-fast Espargaró and a Savadori who is clearly improving. While in the morning session, Aleix and Lorenzo were able to take advantage of the experience gained in the tests on this circuit, the times quickly got better and better. The incisiveness demonstrated in the afternoon FP2 session was also important, where Aleix finished third with a gap of just 2 tenths.

Lorenzo’s approach was also positive, with his feeling astride the Italian V4 improving by the minute. After an outstanding fourth place this morning, Savadori hones his performance in the afternoon as well, finishing just 6 tenths behind the best time.

ALEIX ESPARGARO’

“In FP1, we clearly took advantage of the data from the test, but with two sessions that long, the other riders came up to speed quickly. This is why I’m very pleased with the overall third place time, because being ahead in FP2 as well means that we really did a good job. In addition to the flying lap, we were also competitive on used tyres, which is a very important aspect because tyre wear in the race will be crucial, especially in the last ten laps. Tomorrow I’ll battle to finish in the top 6. I think it is a result that both the team and I deserve.”

LORENZO SAVADORI
“A good day. My confidence on the RS-GP is increasing session after session and racing on a track I’m familiar with definitely helps. You can see my lack of miles in this category when I have to push to the limit. Despite some good times, I still don’t have the perfect feeling when I need to squeeze out 100%. The clearest limitations are the same as Valencia. We need to keep working to try to take full advantage of this weekend.”