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Maverick Vinales is continuing to work hard to be able to get the best out of all his talent on the Aprilia. The Spaniard is doing some work on the bike that he was unable to do during the race weekends and which seems to be producing some very positive results. The Spaniard appeared very optimistic at the end of the Jerez tests, aware that he has an RS-GP in his hands that has not yet fully expressed its potential.
Vinales' Achilles heel on the Aprilia has always been braking, but the engineers from Noale managed to help him from this point of view by intervening on the bike's electronics. Furthermore, the data collected in these two days will be essential to work on the innovations to be brought to the track in 2022, in the Sepang tests. Maverick's desire and enthusiasm are clear in his words.
"We want to make the most of every single day we have, because sometimes it is difficult to move the bikes and material from one track to another quickly throughout the year. But we will do our best in the test days we have, we know how much work we have to do. Even taking small steps now will mean a lot during the season. I will certainly go to Noale to talk about these tests, about my feelings. I can't wait to continue working and improving the RS-GP. "
Did you test any new things here that worked?
"We didn't test anything specific on the bike, but we worked a lot on braking which is an area where I still suffer a lot even in the race, but here we made a big step forward thanks to the electronics and so we are happy with the way these tests went through, and how we worked especially on this aspect ".
A problem that immediately plagued you with Aprilia.
"The Yamaha braked differently and I'm still adapting. The guys are helping me a lot by giving me a smoother bike especially when entering corners thanks to the work on the engine brake. I needed it to help me feel calmer and more confident when entering corners. This modification allows me to brake later and harder, so it's fantastic. The electronic management of the gearbox in braking has also improved, something that helps us both on the flying lap and on the race pace. We need to take further steps forward, we are not yet where we want to be ".
In what other areas do you want to see some steps forward?
"For me we have to improve in turning, but we have very clear ideas about what needs to be done to improve. We have to wait for Sepang to continue the work but it's great to have a clear direction to go, so I feel really happy with how these tests went. We didn't have a different bike from Valencia, for these things we have to wait for Sepang. There we will certainly have a lot of new things ".
Don't you ever think that maybe it would have been better to do more tests before making your race debut with Aprilia?
"I don't regret having started directly with the races with the Aprilia, it was important to understand how to work during a race weekend. I took it as a period in which to improve and in the tests we are improving more. Doing the races was very important in my opinion ".
At this point what do you expect from 2022?
"It is difficult to expect anything precise. We have to wait for Sepang, after these tests we will have a lot of information on how to work for the future. I want to wait before saying something about my expectations, because I feel a very high potential in the bike, I feel it clearly. We need to extract it and we are doing it step by step. In Aprilia they have the time to work and I think that at Sepang we will have many things to make life on the saddle easier for us riders. "
