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

Disastrous Weekend for Aprilia, Embarrassing Performance at Aragon MotoGP

Aleix Espargaro ends up 40 seconds behind Marc Marquez, calling the result 'embarrassing', while Maverick Vinales drops out halfway through the race.

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

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

Initially, the significant gaps of 2.9 seconds (Espargaro) and 3.7 seconds (Vinales) behind Marquez's pole position time in qualifying seemed like an anomaly.

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 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro, on the other hand, couldn't make it past the first turn due to wheelspin from starting on the dirty side of the grid, which led to him hitting the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio.

In his final Aragon race before retirement, Espargaro managed to finish on Sunday, but he was a disappointing 40.6 seconds behind Marquez, placing tenth.

Espargaro expressed his frustration, stating, "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. Once again, I struggled to stay on the bike, but at least we secured a top ten finish and earned some points."

"We couldn't get the tires to function properly," Espargaro stated. "I paid more attention to preventing a crash than to how well I was performing. It was tough just to get my knee to touch the ground."

"I wasn't able to tilt the bike during turns. This was an unfamiliar and unexpected challenge for us, making it difficult to come to terms with. We need to investigate the cause."

Vinales faced even greater difficulties, falling to the last position right from the first lap on Sunday. He stayed there, except for being ahead of Luca Marini who started from the pit lane, until he withdrew from the race just before reaching the halfway mark.

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

"We struggled to make the tires function properly. Every corner felt like I was on the verge of losing control, particularly with the back tire," Vinales stated.

"It was a challenging weekend for both Aprilia and myself, as despite a strong showing on Friday, everything suddenly went downhill."

Struggling to get the tyres to perform on a challenging track – with Marquez’s race time being 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's from two years prior – appeared to echo Aprilia's past issues when using slick tyres in wet conditions. "A dreadful weekend," said team boss Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick despite limited grip, but then we lost our direction, finishing around four seconds off our best times."

"We should use this poor performance as a driving force to enhance our analysis and development efforts for the next races, beginning with Misano."

Trackhouse racer Miguel Oliveira, who finished fifth in the Sprint race, had an accident and dropped out on the first lap of the grand prix. His team-mate Raul Fernandez ended up in 16th place following a penalty for tyre pressure.

“Today was extremely challenging,” Fernandez stated. “I’m not quite sure what went wrong. Yesterday, I managed three laps with decent grip, followed by significant tyre graining. However, today, I had no grip at all.”

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

“That race ranks among the toughest I’ve ever experienced… The silver lining is that all of us on the Aprilia team are dealing with similar challenges. With four riders providing feedback, we can collaborate effectively to determine the best way forward.”

The other positive update for Aprilia is that the upcoming Misano round at their home circuit this weekend is expected to have significantly better grip.

Explore Further

Recent Updates

Recent Updates

Website Map

Crash.Net

©1999-2024 Crash Media Group

Copying any part or the entirety of the text, photos, or drawings is strictly prohibited in all formats.