Espargaro says Aprilia gives him more confidence than Suzuki

After ending up 13th quickest at Sepang, the Spaniard ended the second test of the pre-season at Phillip Island 10th fastest, 0.812s off the pace set by former Suzuki teammate Maverick Vinales.

Espargaro also tried out a new winglet fairing on the Aprilia for the first time on Thursday, a day where he was sixth fastest and only two tenths shy of second-fastest man Marc Marquez.

Speaking on Friday, Espargaro said he was feeling much more confident to push aboard the Aprilia, praising his machine for its stability compared to the Suzuki GSX-RR he rode in 2015-16.

Asked to name the RS-GP's best aspect, he said: “For me the front. The front reminds me of the Suzuki. I can go in with the brake, I can brake hard and the bike is really stable.

“Last year it was my handicap, it was impossible to trust the front. I just crash, crash and crash. With the Aprilia I can go after and faster and still not find the limit on the entry with the brake.

“For me the character of this bike is that it’s not so easy like the Suzuki, and it looks a little bit heavy in the change of direction, but it’s really stable.

“So it’s a little bit more physical, I need to work more with the bike with my body, but the stability is something really positive.”

After expressing his satisfaction with Aprilia's long-run pace at Sepang, Espargaro noted further improvements on used tyres at Phillip Island.

“Actually for me it is the most important thing," said the Spaniard. "Last year it was not really consistent, especially in the last laps.

"I found at Jerez and Malaysia that this bike after 10 laps starts to spin a little, especially in Malaysia. But here I’m surprised because we improved.

"I’m not able to do go super-fast on one lap, but I can manage to go quite fast on a long run. For example, [on Friday] morning I did six or seven laps in the 1m29s, which is great with the Aprilia.”

Additional reporting by Oriol Puidgemont