Smith rates new Aprilia
Briton Bradley Smith gives all-new 2020 machine a shakedown in Sepang
Plus big changes afoot for World Superbikes
‘We’re closer to being middle of the pack’ TEST RIDER BRADLEY SMITH
All eyes were on Aprilia’s GP20 MotoGP contender as the manufacturer teams embarked on three days of testing at Sepang this week.
The Italian team is the only manufacturer bringing an all-new bike to the grid this year thanks to the introduction a new, widerangle 90-degree V4. This new engine has also necessitated an all-new chassis, which also gets a radical new ‘aero’ element. MCN spoke with British test rider Bradley Smith at the end of the second day of testing where he’d been testing the new bike back-toback with the 2019 model before completing a number of longer runs on the 2020 version. Speaking from Sepang, he outlined the three key areas development was focusing on: “We wanted something that gave us smooth engine power. But we also needed more bhp because we were lacking in that area. With the chassis we needed a little more balance – a bike that uses both tyres through a corner rather than one at a time. We also wanted a bike that would allow us to make use of a new tyre – we needed to be able to make a step up when we fit a new tyre, but not just 0.1 or 0.2 seconds. Before, a new tyre would tie the 2019 bike in knots because of the extra grip and how it overloaded certain areas. “Getting all these things from Aprilia was a big ask because, although we wanted something radical we also didn’t want to be too far away from the base setting we already had.”
It took Smith just three laps on the 2020 bike to match his times set on the 2019 model.
He said: “The new bike suits my style better because I like to ride from the middle to rear of the bike rather that it being on its nose. What’s key in MotoGP now is to go faster with less effort. It’s OK to have a bike you can squeeze one lap out of by going balls to the wall, but you can’t do that for 20 laps.” Aprilia also appear to have made an improvement in top speed. Once the slowest bike on the grid, in 2019 they were faster than Yamaha, something they have built on with the 2020 bike.
“I got behind Alex Marquez on the Honda and we’ve certainly closed the gap,” Smith explained. “I got with one of the KTMs and felt we were close to matching them. So rather than being at the bottom of the pack, we’re closer to being middle of the pack.”
The 29-year-old now hands the two 2020 bikes and one 2019 bike to No.1 rider Aleix Espargaro who made his first contact on Tuesday (yesterday) before the official all rider Sepang test starts on Friday.