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Brought in as team manager to aid the overall boss Luigi Dall'Igna this year, Francesco Guidotti is ideally placed to tell us how the season has been for Aprilia Alitalia so far. With Max Biaggi leading the championship, it appears to be going even better than expected.

"Our expectation was not to be leading for sure with this gap, at this stage of the season," said Francesco. "Our expectation was to fight with some other riders. It was like that before and it will come back for sure. No one gives up so easy. At the beginning of the season the first race was really tough, but then we had a good response at the last race. Where we expected no huge problem we had one, in Phillip Island. When we expected a difficult race in Misano, and it was still a difficult race, we took a double win. At the end of the day it is the result that is important."

With five rounds remaining, Guidotti would not be drawn on any talk of the championship now, stating, "Our goal is still the same, improve the performance of last year, which means being inside the top three. It seems that we are getting to that goal, maybe more. But the competitors are really tough; we have to respect them to the end of the season. Races are never finished until the chequered flag and the season is not finished until the last race. We are still focused on race results. We are not thinking about the title, really. Step-by-step. It is our goal, but our feet are on the ground."