MotoGP Valencia Test
Focus on Aprilia
Tuesday’s Valencia Test proved fruitful and promising for the Noale factory. They had three riders inside the top five: Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) was the best of the bunch in second while Miguel Oliveira got off to a flyer as the new CryptoDATA Aprilia RNF rider ended the Test fourth, just ahead of Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing).
RNF of course are not already starting with new riders, but also with new bikes after switching to Aprilia from Yamaha.Â
After facing the challenge to change the entire garage overnight, the CryptoDATA Aprilia RNF MotoGP Team enjoyed a prosperous opening day with Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez as well as several new team members.
Oliveira did a total of 75 laps from this morning to this evening and concluded the test in a fantastic fourth position after his first day on the Aprilia, just 0.335 seconds from the top.
Raul Fernandez lapped the four-kilometre-long circuit 78 times and improved during the day to eventually finish in P21, just under a second off the pace of his new and more experienced team-mate.
Razlan Razali – CryptoDATA Aprilia RNF MotoGP Team Principal
“Today was the first official test for the 2023 season and marks the historic day of RNF testing for the first time with the Aprilia RS-GP bikes and both our riders Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez. There was excitement all over the team together with the Aprilia Racing. Everyone was curious on how the riders can adapt and transition on the RS-GP. So far after the tests, it seems that with two different strategies and test plans by both riders, it looks like Miguel Oliveira seems to adapt very well on the Aprilia while Raul Fernandez is looking more on race pace rather than time attack at the test.
“Our transition from the Yamaha to Aprilia was at ease with the strong support by Aprilia Racing and their test team, we have only one bike each and a lot of technical support from Aprilia Racing monitored by Massimo Rivola and this also marks a great beginning of a relationship chemistry between both the factory and our team.”
“So, we end the 2022 season on a high note after this test in the back of a very difficult and challenging season, and we will take a well-deserved rest but a lot of plannings behind the scenes for us to come back better prepared for the Sepang Official Test in February.“
Wilco Zeelenberg – CryptoDATA Aprilia RNF MotoGP Team Manager
“Finally the transition from Yamaha and from KTM for the riders to the Aprilia basically worked out pretty good and easier to flow in than expected. Especially, because of the behaviour of the bike everything is smoother and that’s always positive.
“There are also things that the riders needed to adapt to, such as riding for a day on the Michelin tyre on the same track with the same conditions, of course the lap times will come, so we should not underestimate that. But in the end, seeing Miguel Oliveira did a good lap time on the soft tyre and feeling comfortable show that this is not the limit and it’s always promising.”
“Raul Fernandez was happy as well, of course he is much younger than Miguel and less experienced, but the struggle that he had over the last season where he didn’t have a good front end feeling, he improved straight away and he rolled into the corners and actually gained confidence from the first moment on.“
MotoGP Valencia Test Times
- MARINI Luca ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 1’30.032
- VINALES Maverick SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 0.225
- BEZZECCHI Marco ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 0.230
- OLIVEIRA Miguel POR RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 0.335
- ESPARGARO Aleix SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 0.366
- DI GIANNANTONIO Fabio ITA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.451
- BINDER Brad RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.464
- MARTIN Jorge SPA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.544
- QUARTARARO Fabio FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.546
- BASTIANINI Enea ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.560
- ZARCO Johann FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.594
- BAGNAIA Francesco ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 0.623
- MARQUEZ Marc SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.644
- MORBIDELLI Franco ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.659
- MARQUEZ Alex SPA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.680
- ESPARGARO Pol SPA Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 0.725
- MILLER Jack AUS Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.755
- MIR Joan SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.882
- NAKAGAMI Takaaki JPN LCR Honda Honda 1.049
- RINS Alex SPA LCR Honda Honda 1.196
- FERNANDEZ Raul SPA RNF MotoGP Team Aprilia 1.308
- FERNANDEZ Augusto SPA Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing KTM 1.698
