Aprilia Racing Team Gresini has officially revealed its team and the RS-GP race bike for the 2015 MotoGP season. The bike was unveiled by the racing team’s riders - Alvaro Bautista and Marco Melandri, in Italy, marking the Italian manufacturer’s return in the premier class motorcycle racing championship.
Aprilia has made no secret about the fact that they aren’t expecting any big results in the 2015 season. The RS-GP race bike is actually a precursor to the company’s full-blown factory prototype, which will be unveiled next year. While Aprilia had initially planned to return to MotoGP in 2016, it decided to start a year early to develop the prototype for more serious effort next year.
So far, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini hasn’t seen a lot of success in the pre-season testing, and the team is still trying its best to get a well-balanced bike. With Qatar Grand Prix less than three weeks away, the final pre-season testing will commence on March 14 at the Losail International Circuit, Qatar.
Commenting on their plans for this season, Mr Romano Albesiano, Aprilia Racing Manager said, “For us this will be a year of testing, development and in some ways even sacrifice, to be taken full advantage of as we look toward 2016 when we will be able to ride a real Aprilia prototype bike onto the track. We do not underestimate the difficulties of this effort but we have all the elements we need in order to take it on successfully: a solid technological platform, a top shelf racing department and a partner to support us in this new challenge.”
