Bradley Smith had avoided any preconceived ideas of the Aprilia RS-GP, but after four days of MotoGP testing the Englishman "felt what he had seen" 💟when watching the bike on track this🔯 season:

"But also we know h💛ow to make it better, so that's ♕exciting."

Smith is switching to test riding duties for Apriliaဣ (plus racinಌg in the new FIM MotoE World Cup) after six seasons in the premier-class on Tech3 Yamaha and then factory KTM machinery.

Aprilia finished sixth and lౠast in this year's constructors' standings, losing out to 🔯KTM by 13 points after Smith's team-mate Pol Espargaro snatched a debut podium (16 points) at the final round.

To improve its fortunes for 2019 Aprilia, like Yamaha, is bolstering its test programme, signing Smith to work alongside fact✃ory racers Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone.

"I tried not to have any preconce🎐ived ideas. That’s always a dangerous thing, but [the RS-GP] is as I would imagine, when you watch it out on track," Smith said at Jerez.

"The front isꦛ alr👍eady, I feel, a strong point on this bike. It's able to brake late. Aleix has obviously developed it around being able to grab the brakes all the way to the apex.

"Le💜t's say at the moment the weakness is towards the rear,🌄 so that was our main focus.

"Putting power to the ground, not having so much wheelie and using the maximum potꦦential of the engine is something you see they maybe struggled with once the tyre 𒐪has gone off."

One of the key ingredients🧜 to make the RS-GP better for 2019 is thus a change of engine character. Smith - who took on the added work of a sick Espargaro at Jerez - was heavily involved in helping select the favoured direction before the winter break.

"Aleix was🧸 still poorly so it was another busy day back-checking engine configurations and trying to make a firm decision on which way to go," he said before leaving th🅺e circuit.

"In the end we got our head around what the bike needs and different ♛bits an🍌d pieces, different ideas."

The two different engine configurations on offer were 🐭"simiಞlar, but obviously different in certain areas. The main focus at the moment is driveability and making sure we're getting as much grip from the rear tyre as possible.

"Obviously it was a weakness we saw from the Aprilia last season, in terms of destroying theღ rear tyre and maybe struggling a little bit more towa💙rds the end of the races.

"They are not trying to reinvent the wheel, it's basically just refining and pointing things in the right direction so the guys are able to build a '19 bike out of everything we've learnཧed from this test.

"An important objective was ideally to get all three r🎃iders, but here two riders, agree𝓀ing on the same direction.

"I think that we did it. Now we need to see what 🌃the complete package is like at Sepang and move 🌸forward from there."

When Espargaro returns to action in the new year, Smith will revert to working with the Aprilia test team, with which he is also set to make some wild-card appearances, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:st✨arting at the Qatar season op♓ener.

"My crew chief is Pietro [Caprara], who worked with Aleix durin🅠g the second half of last year once 𓆉Marcus [Eschenbacher] was no longer coming to the races," Smith said.

"So he's going to steer the ship and then the rest of the [test team] guys are mainly coming from💧 the factory, but obv🌺iously we are trying to build-up the whole project now.

"The guys are doing a doing a good job, we've see them working here the last two days with Matteo 𒈔[Baiocco] and things seem to be getting bette🐎r and better over there. So it’s not completely new, but a revised test team from this year."

Iannone, who has joined t😼he team from Suzuki, was the top RS-GP rider at Jerez, in 16th place.