Aprilia’s Aragon Agony: Espargaro and Vinales Struggle in ‘Embarrassing’ MotoGP Race

"Disastrous weekend for Aprilia, humiliating performance at Aragon MotoGP"

Aleix Espargaro ended the race 40 seconds behind Marc Marquez in what he described as a 'humiliating' performance, while Maverick Vinales had to retire halfway through the event.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales ended the MotoGP practice session on Friday at Aragon in second and third place, trailing only Marc Marquez in the standings.

Nevertheless, the heavy rain that fell overnight on both Friday and Saturday left them struggling.

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

However, the gap was evident during the Sprint race when Vinales ended up in 19th place, finishing last and trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, which translates to a deficit of 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro couldn't make it past the first turn, struggling with wheelspin on the less clean side of the grid, before making contact with the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio.

Participating in his final Aragon race prior to retiring, Espargaro managed to finish the race on Sunday but found himself in a disappointing tenth place, trailing Marquez by an "embarrassing" 40.6 seconds.

Espargaro expressed disappointment, stating, "I gave it my all, but nothing seemed to be effective, and we ended up over 40 seconds behind the winner, which is quite humiliating. Once more, I struggled to remain on the bike, but at least we secured a top ten finish and earned some points."

Espargaro admitted that they struggled to make the tyres function properly. He explained that his main concern was preventing a crash rather than achieving high performance. He also mentioned that it was challenging to get his knee down on the track.

"I found it impossible to lean into the bike's turns. This scenario is unfamiliar and challenging for us to grasp. We have to determine what went wrong."

The situation was even more challenging for Vinales, who fell to the last position during the first lap on Sunday. He stayed there, apart from Luca Marini who began from the pit lane, until he withdrew shortly before the halfway point of the race.

The fastest lap of the COTA winner was 2.7 seconds slower than Marquez's best time.

"We struggled with the tyres, and it felt like I was on the verge of crashing at every corner, particularly with the rear tyre," Vinales explained.

"Aprilia and I faced a challenging weekend. Despite a strong showing on Friday, everything fell apart afterwards."

The challenge of getting the tires to perform on a difficult track – Marquez’s victory time was 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's two years prior – appeared to mirror earlier issues Aprilia has faced when using slick tires on wet surfaces. "It was a terrible weekend," said team leader Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick despite having little traction, but then we lost our direction, finishing about four seconds slower than our top times."

"We need to use this poor showing as motivation to keep analyzing and developing as we prepare for the upcoming races, beginning with Misano."

Trackhouse racer Miguel Oliveira, who finished fifth in the Sprint, suffered a crash during the first lap of the grand prix. Meanwhile, his teammate Raul Fernandez ended up in 16th place due to a penalty related to tyre pressure.

"Today was incredibly challenging," Fernandez stated. "I'm not quite sure what went wrong. Yesterday, I managed to complete three laps with decent grip, but then I experienced significant tyre graining. However, today, things didn't go well at all."

"I struggled with traction throughout the race, feeling as if I were racing on ice, which led to numerous errors on my part."

"That race was among the hardest I've ever experienced… The bright side is that all of us at Aprilia are encountering similar problems. With four riders, we provide quadruple the feedback, which allows us to collaborate and determine the best way forward."

Another piece of positive news for Aprilia is that the upcoming home race at Misano this weekend is expected to provide significantly better traction.

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