Aprilia’s Aragon Agony: Espargaro’s ‘Embarrassing’ Finish and Vinales’ Mid-Race Exit Highlight Dire Weekend

Disastrous Weekend for Aprilia; Disappointing Performance at Aragon MotoGP

Aleix Espargaro ends up 40 seconds behind Marc Marquez in what he describes as an 'embarrassing' race, while Maverick Vinales is forced to retire halfway through.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales concluded Friday's MotoGP practice session at Aragon with times that were second only to Marc Marquez.

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

In the beginning, it seemed unusual that Espargaro was 2.9 seconds and Vinales was 3.7 seconds slower than Marquez's pole position time in the qualifying round.

However, the gap was evident during the Sprint race, with Vinales ending up in 19th place, the last position, trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, which averages to 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro, on the other hand, couldn't make it past the first turn. He experienced wheelspin on the grid's less clean side and ended up hitting the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio's bike.

In his final Aragon appearance before retiring, Espargaro managed to finish the race on Sunday but trailed Marquez by a disappointing 40.6 seconds, ending up in tenth position.

"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 again, I struggled to even remain 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. "My main concern was preventing a crash rather than aiming for high performance. It was so challenging that I struggled to get my knee down."

"I wasn't able to lean into the bike's turns. It was an unfamiliar and difficult scenario for us to come to terms with. We need to understand what went wrong."

Vinales faced even greater challenges, falling to the last position on the first lap of Sunday’s race. He stayed there, with the exception of pit lane starter Luca Marini, until he withdrew from the race shortly before the halfway point.

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

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

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

Struggling to get the tires to perform on a challenging track – Marquez's victory time was 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's time from two years prior – appeared to echo earlier issues Aprilia has had when navigating damp conditions with slick tires. "It was a terrible weekend," said team principal Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick despite the low grip, but after that, we lost our momentum and ended up around four seconds off our best times."

"We should let this poor showing drive us to further 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, was involved in an accident 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,” Fernandez explained. “I’m not sure what went wrong. Yesterday, I managed three laps with fairly decent traction, but then my tires started to wear out significantly. However, today, the situation was completely different, and I had no grip at all.”

"I had no traction, it felt like I was racing on ice the entire time, and as a result, I made numerous errors."

"That race was among the toughest I've ever experienced. The one good thing is that everyone on the Aprilia team is encountering the same problems. With four riders providing feedback, we can collaborate to find a solution."

Another positive update for Aprilia is the expectation of significantly better traction at this weekend's home event in Misano.

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