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

Disastrous Weekend for Aprilia at Aragon MotoGP

Aleix Espargaro ends the race 40 seconds behind Marc Marquez, calling it an "embarrassing" result, while Maverick Vinales withdraws halfway through the competition.

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

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

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

The gap was evident during the Sprint race, where Vinales ended up in 19th place, trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, which translates to 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro, on the other hand, failed to navigate past the first turn. He experienced wheelspin on the less clean 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 a disappointing 40.6 seconds behind Marquez, placing him in tenth.

"I put in my best effort, but nothing seemed to work and we ended up more than 40 seconds behind the winner, which is quite humiliating," Espargaro stated. "Once again, I could barely keep myself on the bike, but we managed to secure a top ten finish and earn some points."

Espargaro stated that they couldn't get the tires to function properly. He mentioned that he was more concerned with preventing a crash than with how well he was performing. He also noted that it was tough to get his knee to touch the ground.

"I wasn't able to tilt the bike during turns. This was an unusual and unfamiliar experience for us, making it difficult to come to terms with. We need to investigate what went wrong."

The situation was even more dire for Vinales, who immediately fell to the last position at the start of Sunday's race. He stayed there, ahead of only pit lane starter Luca Marini, until he withdrew from the race just before the halfway point.

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

“We struggled to get the tyres to function properly. It felt like I was on the verge of crashing at every corner, particularly with the rear tyre,” Vinales mentioned.

"The weekend proved to be challenging for both Aprilia and myself. Following a strong showing on Friday, everything suddenly went downhill."

Struggling to get the tyres to perform on a challenging track surface resulted in Marquez's race time being 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's from two years prior, highlighting Aprilia's recurring issues with slick tyres in wet conditions. "It was a terrible weekend," said team principal Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick despite low grip, but then we lost our direction, ending up around four seconds slower than our top times."

"We need to use this poor performance as a driving force to keep analyzing and improving 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, while his teammate Raul Fernandez ended up in 16th place due to a penalty for tyre pressure.

"Today was extremely challenging," stated Fernandez. "I'm quite confused about the situation. Yesterday, I managed to complete three laps with decent traction, but then I experienced significant tire graining. However, today, the grip just wasn't there at all."

"I couldn't maintain traction throughout the race; it felt as if I was driving on ice, leading to numerous errors."

"That race ranks among the toughest I've ever experienced. On the bright side, it seems that all of us on the Aprilia team are encountering similar challenges. With four riders providing feedback, we can collaborate effectively to determine the best path forward."

Another positive update for Aprilia is that the upcoming Misano round, which takes place this weekend, is expected to provide significantly better traction.

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