Bradl joins Bautista on new Aprilia frame

Stefan Bradl will join Aprilia team-mate Alvaro Bautista in using a new frame during the team's home MotoGP event at Misano this weekend.

Bautista rode to Aprilia's equal best result of the season with tenth place in the Silverstone rain, while Bradl fell after qualifying as the lead RS-GP in 14th.

"At Misano Bradl will also have the new frame that responded well with Bautista," Aprilia Racing manager Romano Albesiano confirmed. "We'll re-try a setup that had given us good results during private tests at Misano with Alvaro.

"The tests on Tuesday will also be very important, helpful for both riders and the first chance for Stefan to do some testing without the excitement of a race weekend. In the race we'll try to confirm the good job we did at Silverstone, maybe with both riders this time, like we did at Brno."

This weekend is expected to see Bradl, who joined Aprilia mid-season after Marco Melandri's departure and financial problems at Forward Racing, confirmed as remaining alongside Bautista for 2016.