Aprilia’s Aragon Agony: Espargaro and Vinales Flounder in ‘Embarrassing’ MotoGP Weekend

Disastrous Weekend for Aprilia, Dismal Performance at Aragon MotoGP

Aleix Espargaro trails Marc Marquez by 40 seconds in a "humiliating" race, while Maverick Vinales drops out halfway through.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales ended Friday's MotoGP practice session at Aragon with only Marc Marquez posting faster times.

Despite the rain on Friday and Saturday nights, which left the area muddy, they struggled to cope.

Initially, it seemed unusual that Espargaro was 2.9 seconds and Vinales 3.7 seconds slower than Marquez's pole position time during qualifying.

However, Vinales' lag was evident during the Sprint race, as he ended up in the 19th and final position, trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, which averages out to 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro, on the other hand, failed to make it past the first turn. He experienced wheelspin due to being on the dirtier side of the starting grid and ended up making contact with the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio's bike.

In his final Aragon race before retiring, Espargaro managed to finish but ended up in tenth place, trailing Marquez by a substantial 40.6 seconds, which he described as "embarrassing."

"I gave it my all, but nothing seemed to go right, and we ended up over 40 seconds behind the winner, which is quite humiliating," Espargaro stated. "Once more, I could barely keep myself on the bike, but at least we managed a top ten finish and earned some points."

Espargaro admitted that they couldn't get the tires to function properly. He explained that he concentrated more on preventing crashes than on optimizing performance, noting that it was hard to even get his knee to touch the ground.

"I wasn't able to tilt the bike into the corners. It was an unusual and unfamiliar experience for us, making it tough to come to terms with. We have to understand what went wrong."

Conditions deteriorated further for Vinales, who fell to the last position during the first lap on Sunday. He stayed there, except for Luca Marini who began from the pit lane, until he retired shortly before reaching the halfway point of the race.

The fastest lap achieved by the COTA victor was 2.7 seconds behind Marquez's best time.

"We struggled to get the tires to perform properly. It felt like I was on the verge of crashing at every corner, particularly with the back tire," Vinales explained.

"The weekend proved challenging for both Aprilia and myself, as we encountered difficulties following a strong showing on Friday."

Struggling to get the tyres to perform on a challenging track – Marquez’s winning time was 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's two years prior – appeared to mirror past issues Aprilia has faced when using slick tyres in wet conditions. Team principal Massimo Rivola described it as “a horrible weekend,” noting that while they were quick on Friday with little grip, they ultimately lost their momentum, finishing roughly four seconds off their best pace.

"This poor showing should inspire us to keep analyzing and improving as we look ahead to future races, beginning with Misano."

Trackhouse racer Miguel Oliveira, who finished fifth in the Sprint, experienced a crash on the first lap of the grand prix. His teammate, Raul Fernandez, ended up in 16th place due to a penalty for tyre pressure.

"Today was incredibly tough," Fernandez remarked. "I'm not quite sure what went wrong. Yesterday, I managed to complete three laps with relatively decent grip, although I experienced significant tire graining. But today, I had no grip at all."

"I struggled to maintain traction throughout the race, feeling as if I were driving on ice, which led to numerous errors."

"That race was among the toughest I've ever experienced. The upside is that all of us on the Aprilia team are encountering the same challenges. With four riders providing feedback, we can collaborate to find a solution."

Another positive development for Aprilia is that the upcoming Misano round, being a home event, is expected to provide significantly better traction this weekend.

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