'I am happy to finish P1' - Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia enjoy perfect start to MotoGP testing in Qatar, as the Spanish rider took the updated RS-GP bike to a time of 1m 54.687s, which is quicker than the race lap-record set by Jorge Lorenzo.
Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola says giving MotoGP race seat to Lorenzo Savadori was down to 'company reasons', but hopes Bradley Smith will decide to remain as their test and wild-card rider. Confirms Andrea Iannone cannot be a test rider.
Aprilia officially presents its 2021 RS-GP MotoGP machine, confirms Lorenzo Savadori has been chosen over Bradley Smith as team-mate to Aleix Espargaro.
The latest official update on the condition of MotoGP team principal Fausto Gresini paints a worrying picture, with his 'clinical picture critical' after 'complications'.
Aprilia opened its 2021 MotoGP track activities with a three-day private test at Jerez, where Aleix Espargaro and Lorenzo Savadori continued development work on the revised RS-GP.
Fausto Gresini's ongoing battle against 'severe respiratory failure due to the complications of Covid' has seen the MotoGP team manager overcome a 'complicated' week and return to a more 'stable' condition.
The cancellation of the Sepang MotoGP tests meant Cal Crutchlow's return to Yamaha, and debut as a Factory test rider, has been pushed back until the remaining official tests in Qatar.
Andrea Dovizioso has reiterated that, while he continues to seek a MotoGP return, it would only be with 'projects of a certain type' and not 'at all costs'.
Dr Nicola Cilloni, overseeing the treatment of MotoGP team boss Fausto Gresini, says that the 59-year-old 's condition is 'still serious' with his lungs 'hit hard by the disease [Covid] and an overlapping infection'.
UPDATE: Sunday's statement by Dr Nicola Cilloni: "Fausto's general clinical conditions are still serious due to the persistence of a Covid-related pneumonia which greatly compromises blood oxygenation, making it necessary to continue mechanical ventilation alongside sedation
The departure of Cal Crutchlow (35), Andrea Dovizioso (34) and Tito Rabat (31) means Aleix Espargaro now becomes the second-oldest rider on the MotoGP grid, after Valentino Rossi.