Fausto Gresini has played down Aprilia's inauspicious return to premier MotoGP competition, insisting its rate of progress remains 'in line with expectations' given its earlier-than-planned return to the series. Racing an adapted version of the increasingly dated ART, the RS-GP has struggled to mount a mid-field challenge in the hands of Alvaro Bautista and Marco Melandri, though the former is at least on the board after finishing 15th in the United States. For Gresini, whose eponymous team is preparing the Aprilia factory effort, the shrinking gap to the group in front says to him that the bike is making strides heading to the first, more familiar European round of the season in Jerez....
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