The 2024 RS-GP turned heads when the covers got here off it on the Sepang take a look at firstly of February courtesy of its radical aerodynamic idea, and the bike continued to make headlines as Espargaro completed fifth in Malaysia and third on the Qatar take a look at.
Espargaro received two grands prix in 2023 on his strategy to sixth within the standings and already feels the 2024 RS-GP is “higher all over the place” over a lap.
Nonetheless, he cautioned that the bike remains to be lacking horsepower in comparison with the Ducati, which is especially noticeable when in qualifying trim.
“We’re in a better degree than what I anticipated earlier than we began the pre-season, after the 2 assessments,” Espargaro stated.
“[We’ve tested at] two utterly completely different tracks and we’ve been quick. The Aprilia is best all over the place; we simply want to enhance the bike within the engine aspect.
“We’d like extra torque, extra energy, particularly for the tender tyre as a result of it seems like we’re on the restrict. We can’t extract extra from a tender tyre. So, for Saturdays we’re going to battle.
“However by way of the race tempo with the medium tyre, it’s been superb. We flew. I’m very completely satisfied.
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Workforce
Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photographs
“The RS-GP 24 is sweet, I’m actually completely satisfied. However in the event you verify my race simulation earlier than my crash, I did a few laps in 1m51s, which is loopy on a medium tyre.
“So, it implies that whenever you placed on a tender you’ll count on to be on prime, you’d count on to be a minimum of a few tenths quicker.
“However I couldn’t as a result of it’s like a flatspot all over the place, I would like extra energy. So, the bike is superb all over the place, we simply want to enhance the ability efficiency.”
Espargaro says the staff informed him the horsepower the bike’s engine is producing is probably the most it has ever been, however that it “recognises that it’s not sufficient”.
With Aprilia sure by the rules from with the ability to develop its engine in-season, what it completed the Qatar take a look at on is prone to be what it can race in 2024. As such, it is going to be “very tough” to make the good points he thinks are wanted.
“That’s a query it’s essential give to Romano [Albesiano],” he replied, when requested if he might count on extra engine efficiency.
“It’s going to be very tough, sincerely. Romano informed me in the course of the winter that we’re – he by no means informed me precisely the variety of horsepower the Aprilia has – in a extremely, actually excessive quantity in comparison with 4, 5 years in the past.
“They by no means anticipated to succeed in these numbers, however he recognises that it’s not sufficient. So, hopefully they’ll enhance, nevertheless it’s not going to be straightforward.”
