On a weekend characterised by the many changes that the Aprilia racing division provided for the RS-GP bikes, and then by the hard work done in the garage, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini finished the qualifiers taking spots respectively on the seventh row with Alvaro Bautista (21st best time at 1’48,477) and the ninth row with Marco Melandri (26th best time at 1’51,391). In fact, aerodynamic and ergonomic changes as well as – above all – the arrival of the seamless gearbox for both riders marked the Italian GP weekend. During the free practice sessions prior to the qualifiers Bautista improved his performance compared to Friday, a trend which was then confirmed in the session that decides the starting grid order. Marco, on the other hand, lagged a bit farther back, distracted as he tried to get comfortable with the bike setups.

ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)

“Compared to yesterday we made good progress with Alvaro's times, referring to FP3 and then the fact that we improved even more in qualifying. From this point of view we are rather satisfied. As for the race we need to do a lot of fine tuning because there is a thick pack of riders who are right there, all within a few tenths of one another. This is a situation that, if we work well, could place us in a position to be able to battle for points.”

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)

“Today we saw some stratospheric times achieved in these qualifiers which proves that MotoGP is a more and more competitive and difficult championship. We came here with a lot of new changes and it is clear that in these cases we would need even more time to be able to test them better. In qualifying Alvaro gave 100% as always, doing a great job. Unfortunately Marco still hasn't been able to find the feeling he needs with the bike.”

ALVARO BAUTISTA

“The changes we tested this morning helped us to increase our pace. In the qualifiers I had some problems with the first set of tyres and I took my good lap with the second set. For the race I think we'll go back to what we tried in FP3 because the changes we made in FP4 didn't work out the way we had hoped. We brought a lot of changes with us here: the seamless gearbox helps me because it makes the bike less twitchy and the new position is also more comfortable for me which is very important for the race.”

MARCO MELANDRI

“I'm working hard as always, but unfortunately I just can't seem to find that feeling with the bike that I need so this is the best I can do. I hope some changes to the chassis arrive that will be able to meet my needs.”