---
title: "Espargaro says new fairing ‘not bad’"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/02/16/espargaro-says-new-fairing-not-bad/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2017-02-16T11:09:59Z"
modified: "2017-02-16T11:16:43Z"
---

# Espargaro says new fairing ‘not bad’

Aprilia unveiled their ‘winglet’ fairing at Phillip Island today, as the quest to reclaim aerodynamic benefit from the now banned strakes continues.

Reintroduced into the MotoGP World Championship by Ducati in 2015, aerodynamic wings became commonplace on the grid in 2016. Fears over safety and, above all, development costs saw the Grand Prix Commission outlaw them for 2017.

> Twitter: Suzuki and Aprilia trailed new fairings today. Proof yet again that once the aero genie is out of the bottle it can… https://t.co/IXeQt4rN3I (@SteveEnglishGP)

However, Pandora’s box has been opened and the manufacturers have been hard at work over the winter to incorporate the devices into their motorcycle’s bodywork. Yamaha first introduced their design on the second day of the Sepang test, while both Aprilia and Suzuki debuted their interpretations today in Australia.

Aleix Espargaro put the new fairing through its paces for some of today’s session and said that it was ‘not bad.’ He did admit that he won’t use it should it rob the RS-GP of top speed, but did say that wind tunnel figures suggested this would not be the case.

“It was interesting the numbers it showed in the wind tunnel this winter in Italy, because we created an interesting amount of downforce without losing top speed, which is always important,” [Espargaro said to crash.net following today’s track action.](https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/240281/1/aleix-espargaro-talks-new-aprilia-fairing.html)

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/02/635354196.jpg)

“If the fairing gives us a little more downforce but without losing top speed, it will be great. If we lose just 2-3ks of top speed, I will not use.

“The most important thing is the top speed and then if we can create – with the same top speed – a little bit of downforce, to use a little bit more power in the exit of the corner, it’s always very welcome.”

Espargaro put 69 laps on the RS-GP today, and was an impressive sixth quickest after an early effort of 1m29.502s. As well as trialling the new fairing, he also dedicated his time to testing a new chassis and was impressed with its performance over a race distance.

“We are improving. Yesterday we had already started in the right direction. Today we did a lot of chassis tests. I am more than satisfied with both my flying lap and with our pace during the race simulation, which is very important.

“The bike has not changed much compared with Malaysia, but my feeling on it increases constantly, especially with the front tyre and that is very important for my riding style. Now we need to keep improving our package.”

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/02/635556876.jpg)

Team-mate Sam Lowes is once again running the 2016 bike whilst he adapts to MotoGP machinery, but may get some laps on the 2017 RS-GP tomorrow. The British rider completed 64 laps on the Aprilia, improving on his laptimes from yesterday by well over a second to a 1m30.896s.

“Today we worked well. I am happy. I continue discovering how these bikes need to be ridden and I am beginning to figure out what I need to get my times down,” said Lowes.

“Riding the RS-GP here at Phillip Island is something special. I like the track and I am sure that tomorrow we will be able to take another step toward a good starting base for the 2017 season.”