Bautista pleased with Aprilia seamless

Alvaro Bautista gave Aprilia’s new seamless gearbox its first public running on Monday at Jerez with the Spaniard using hte new part during testing. Afterwards Bautista said that it was not dissimilar to the Honda seamless when he first used that.

Aprilia test rider Michael Laverty spent three days prior to Jerez testing the new gearbox before giving it the thumbs up for the race squad to assess.

“I’m so happy with the first feeling because I rode with the Honda seamless and this is not too far from it,” said Bautista. “On downshift we have to improve a little bit, but to [upshift] on the straight is quite similar to Honda. “We have to improve in the braking because with the Honda it was easier to stop the bike. It was like it helped me more with the engine braking.

“But I can say I am happy because the gearbox is already 7 or 8 out of 10. It is at a quite good level. I was really surprised with the feeling because I didn’t expect it would be this good. From the first exit I could feel a big difference compared to the standard gearbox. It helps to keep a good rhythm because, especially when the tyre is used, the bike is more stable when I shift. As I said, the gearbox was not perfect but the lap time was pretty close to qualifying and my feeling is good. I would like it to use it at the next race, but it is impossible!”

Aprilia have another three day test planned with Laverty at Mugello next week with the Irishman also expected to continue to develop the 2015 chassis so that Bautista and Marco Melandri can look to use it in the coming races.