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

Dismal Aprilia weekend, humiliating Aragon MotoGP race

Aleix Espargaro trails Marc Marquez by a staggering 40 seconds, while Maverick Vinales withdraws halfway through the race.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales concluded the MotoGP practice session on Friday at Aragon, trailing just behind Marc Marquez on the leaderboard.

Despite the overnight rain on both Friday and Saturday, they found themselves struggling.

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

However, the shortfall was evident during the Sprint race, with Vinales placing 19th and at the end of the pack, trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, which breaks down to 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro, on the other hand, was unable to make it past the first turn. He experienced wheelspin due to starting on the less clean side of the grid and ended up brushing against the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio's bike.

In his final Aragon race before retiring, Espargaro managed to finish but ended up a disappointing 40.6 seconds behind Marquez, placing tenth.

"I gave it my all, but nothing seemed to work, and we ended up more than 40 seconds behind the winner, which is quite humiliating," Espargaro remarked. "Once more, I nearly couldn't remain on the bike, but we secured a top ten finish, so we earned some points."

Espargaro admitted they couldn't get the tires to function properly. He emphasized that his main concern was preventing a crash rather than focusing on performance, adding that it was a challenge to even get his knee to touch the ground.

"I wasn't able to tilt the bike while turning. It's an unusual and challenging scenario for us, and it's difficult to come to terms with. We need to understand what went wrong."

Vinales faced even greater difficulties, as he fell to the back of the pack during the first lap on Sunday and stayed there, except for pit lane starter Luca Marini, until he withdrew shortly before the halfway point of the race.

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

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

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

Struggling to get the tires to perform on a challenging track – Marquez's race was 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's time two years prior – seemed to echo earlier issues Aprilia faced when using slick tires in wet conditions. "A terrible weekend," said team leader Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick despite limited grip, but then we lost our direction, ending up about four seconds off our best times."

"This poor showing should drive us to persist in our analysis and development efforts as we prepare for the next races, beginning with Misano."

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

"Today was extremely challenging," Fernandez remarked. "I'm not quite sure what went wrong. The day before, I managed three laps with relatively decent traction, but then the tires started to wear out significantly. However, today, I couldn't get any grip at all."

"I struggled with traction throughout the race, feeling as though I was driving on ice, which led to numerous errors."

“It was one of the toughest races I've ever experienced… The one good thing is that all of us in the Aprilia team are encountering the same problems. There are four of us, which means we get feedback from four different perspectives, and we can collaborate to figure out the way forward.”

Another positive update for Aprilia is that the upcoming Misano round, which is a home event, is likely to provide significantly better traction this weekend.

Explore Further

Recent Updates

Recent Updates

Site Map

Crash.Net

©1999-2024 Crash Media Group

It is prohibited to reproduce text, images, or drawings, either in full or in part, in any manner.