Aleix Espargaro says the long-awaited new engine Aprilia introduced on Friday in Qatar for the first MotoGP sessions of the year worked “well all around”.
The Noale factory enjoyed a relatively positive pre-season, with the updates made to the RS-GP's chassis and aerodynamic package proving to be major steps forward over the 2017 bike.
However, the engine it brought to the Sepang test failed to deliver on Espargaro's needs. A new one was set to be introduced for the Qatar test, but its debut date was pushed back to the first round of the '18 campaign.
Espargaro – who was 12th fastest overall after Friday's running, just under a second from pacesetter Andrea Dovizioso – says the new motor is not a complete revolution over the previous one, and felt it allowed him to exploit his riding style more.
“I am very happy with the day. After a winter of ups and downs, the initial feedback here in Qatar was good,” he stated.
“The evolution of the engine, which has not been revolutionised, proved to work well all around.
“It lets me ride with a style very close to my needs, whereas before I had to open up the throttle with the bike still very much leaned over.
"As for the race configuration, we are rather close to the leaders.”
The Spaniard, who secured Aprilia's best result since 2003 with a sixth-placed finish in Qatar last season, admitted he is unable to utilise fresh rubber on time attacks, and is at a loss as to why this is.
“We lost a few positions in the final attempt with a soft tyre,” he added.
“In the time attack, even pushing to the limit, we are still struggling to get as much out of the tyre compared to the other riders.
“We'll work especially on this in the technical debriefing today, because even though our pace is promising, we still cannot sacrifice qualifying.”
