For the Mugello MotoGP round Alvaro Bautista put all of his generosity on the track and brought home a 14th place finish which is his best performance in this initial phase of the season to earn another two championship points for himself and for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini. Marco Melandri had a more difficult race, finishing 18th.

Just like when the RS-GP made its début at the beginning of this season, Alvaro expressed himself more skilfully in the race than in practice, significantly improving his position. One of the most awaited changes and innovations brought to the race this weekend was the début of the continuous shifting seamless gearbox which finished the race without any problems for both riders. This is another important milestone in the growth process for the Italian manufacturer's project.

ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)

“First of all I think the fact that we introduced some new important technology like the seamless gearbox is very positive, as well as the fact that both bikes finished the weekend without any problems whatsoever, both during practice and in the race. This marks and important step forward in our development schedule of the technology we need to compete in MotoGP. As always Bautista raced very professionally and skilfully. Now we need to help him improve his performance so he can increase his race pace.” 

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)

“Today with Alvaro we collected two points that we can certainly consider useful for morale. Now let's just say that we need to work to earn them... with more overtaking. This weekend we brought a lot of technical changes to the track and we are pleased. There is still a lot of work left to be done but that certainly doesn't frighten us. We are doing our best to be more competitive and we will continue to do so enthusiastically.”

ALVARO BAUTISTA

“Throughout the weekend we worked on improving the situation going in and coming out of turns, also taking a few small steps forward. To be honest I expected to lap a half a second faster, but the conditions slowed me down a bit, probably because of the track that had changed, with less grip on the tarmac compared to the practice sessions. So I tried to maintain the most consistent pace possible and in the end we made our best placing of the season, right here in the team's Home Grand Prix. I'm pleased even if it is clear that there is still much work to be done. In any case I would like to thank the entire team, Aprilia, our sponsors and also all the fans that came out to support us and now we'll be trying to take some steps forward for the next round in Barcelona.”

MARCO MELANDRI

“It wasn't easy to ride because I continued to have various setup problems so I had a difficult race. Aprilia made a big effort bringing various technical innovations here, including the seamless gearbox that works well, but now I need some chassis changes that can help me.”