Promising start to testing at Portimao

Milwaukee Aprilia have continued to show encouraging pace on the first day of testing at the Portimao circuit.

After a two-day test period at the Jerez circuit in Spain, the team relocated to Portimao in Portugal to continue developing the new Aprilia RSV4 RF with ridersEugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori. Track time was limited by damp conditions at the circuit in the morning, but the weather improved throughout the day and allowed the team to run the number 50 and 32 machines unabated.

Eugene, working through a busy test plan, finished the day an impressive P2 with a lap of 1’43.478. Lorenzo, second fastest in the previous test at Jerez, finished P4 with a time of 1’43.686.

With a promising weather forecast for the final day of testing, Milwaukee Aprilia are looking to work through completing their test schedule and finish the pre-season preparation in strong fashion.

Eugene Laverty
1’43.478
“Today was definitely much better for us. We started the day with similar problems to Jerez, but we worked much more efficiently here to solve them and made real headway. I had to be careful with the damp track at first, but it’s bumpy as well so we all had a rough ride.

We still have some work to do to improve the balance and chatter, but I can now attack with the bike and handle it better, so I’m much happier with it.”

Source: Milwaukee Aprilia