Eugene ends Portimao pre-season testing on a high

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Milwaukee Aprilia have completed their European pre-season testing at the Portimao circuit in Portugal.

Pre-season testing started earlier this week with two days at the Jerez circuit in Spain, site of the Milwaukee Aprilia official team launch and the team’s first chance to run the new generation Aprilia RSV4-RF.

Riders Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori had a busy test plan to work through this week, focusing on bike setup and verifying new parts for the Italian machine. After finishing 2nd & 4th at Jerez on Wednesday, the team headed to Portugal looking to enhance their understanding of the Aprilia and make the most of their pre-season track time.

Eugene, improving greatly throughout the test period, finished Sunday in P2 with a lap of 1’42.002, up on his 1’43.478 from Saturday. Teammate Savadori, a strong P2 on Saturday at Portimao with a 1.43.686, ended Sunday P3 with a time of 1’42.043.

The team will now return to base to complete their preparations for the pre-race test at Phillip Island in Australia, followed by Round 1 of the 2017 WorldSBK championship.

Eugene Laverty, #50
1’42.002

“Today was a big improvement for us. I made good progress yesterday but I was still having to fight the bike, whereas today I was able to do a lot of laps and really get it feeling like my bike again. I feel like I can race with it now, and I felt comfortable on the race and quali tyres. It’s been a very productive two days, much better than Jerez, and we made big breakthroughs to resolve the chatter I was having.
I’m feeling confident for Round 1 at Phillip Island; we have a good base to work from and the team is working really well together. It’s one of my favourite tracks to ride, and with another test there I think we’re in a good position to really move forward.”

Source: Milwaukee Aprilia