Everyone in the pitlane that I spoke to about Aprilia, including opposition team members, admitted to being impressed with what the Noale factory have achieved over winter. Aleix was fast every session every day – at least until his fall. Oh, and there’s a new rear start device to go with the front device they had last year. Could this be the machine that gets Aprilia some results to be proud of? The Noale factory took the covers off their brand-new machines in Qatar ahead of the shakedown test. Plenty of new and updated innovations were tested in Doha at the Official Test, now we will see what has been kept when racing begins.

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