### Aprilia’s Aragon Agony: Espargaro and Vinales Struggle in “Embarrassing” MotoGP Weekend

Disastrous Weekend for Aprilia at Aragon MotoGP: Espargaro Lags and Vinales Retires

Aleix Espargaro ended up trailing Marc Marquez by a staggering 40 seconds, while Maverick Vinales had to bow out halfway through the race.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales ended Friday's MotoGP practice session in Aragon just behind Marc Marquez in the rankings.

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

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

However, this gap was evident in the Sprint race, with Vinales ending up in the 19th and final position, trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, which translates to a difference of 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro, on the other hand, failed to make it past the first turn. He experienced wheelspin due to the unclean side of the track and ended up touching the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio's bike.

Taking part in his final Aragon race prior to retiring, Espargaro managed to finish on Sunday but found himself an “embarrassing” 40.6 seconds behind Marquez, securing tenth place.

“I gave it my all, but nothing seemed to help, and we ended up over 40 seconds behind the winner, which is quite humiliating,” Espargaro remarked. “Once more, I nearly couldn't maintain control of the bike, but we managed to secure a top ten finish, so at least we earned some points.”

Espargaro acknowledged that they couldn't get the tires to function properly. He mentioned that he prioritized preventing crashes over optimizing performance, and he even found it challenging to get his knee to touch the ground.

"I wasn’t able to lean into the turns while riding the bike. This was an unusual and unfamiliar experience for us, and it's tough to come to terms with. We must determine what went wrong."

Vinales faced an even tougher situation, falling immediately to the rear of the pack on the first lap of Sunday’s race. He stayed in that position, with the exception of Luca Marini who began from the pit lane, until he withdrew from the race shortly before reaching the halfway mark.

The fastest lap of the winner at COTA was 2.7 seconds slower than that of Marquez.

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

"The weekend proved challenging for both Aprilia and myself; despite a strong showing on Friday, everything fell apart afterward."

The challenge of getting the tires to perform on a difficult track surface was evident, as Marquez's race-winning time was 12 seconds slower than the time set by Enea Bastianini two years prior. This issue seemed to mirror past problems Aprilia faced when using slick tires on wet tracks. "A terrible weekend," said team principal Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick despite having little grip, but then we lost our direction and ended up about four seconds slower than our best times."

"This poor showing should drive us to keep analyzing and improving as we prepare for the next races, beginning with Misano."

Trackhouse competitor Miguel Oliveira, who secured fifth place in the Sprint, unfortunately crashed during the first lap of the grand prix. His teammate Raul Fernandez ended up in 16th position due to a penalty for tyre pressure.

“Today was incredibly challenging,” Fernandez remarked. “I’m not quite sure what went wrong. Yesterday, I managed three laps with decent traction, though I did experience significant tyre graining afterward. However, today, there was no grip at all.”

"I couldn't get any traction; it felt like I was racing on ice the entire time, causing me to make numerous errors."

"The race was among the toughest I've ever experienced… The silver lining is that everyone on the Aprilia team seems to be dealing with the same problems. With four riders providing input, we can collaborate and find a way forward together."

The additional positive update for Aprilia is that the upcoming Misano round, being held on home turf this weekend, is expected to provide significantly better traction.

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