**”April’s Agony: Aprilia’s Nightmare at Aragon as Espargaro and Vinales Struggle in Embarrassing MotoGP Weekend”**

Dismal Aprilia weekend, humiliating Aragon MotoGP event

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

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales were the second and third fastest riders in the MotoGP practice session at Aragon on Friday, trailing only Marc Marquez in the rankings.

Despite rain causing muddy conditions overnight on both Friday and Saturday, they found themselves 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 unusual event.

However, the gap was evident during the Sprint race as Vinales ended up in 19th place, which was last, trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, averaging 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro, on the other hand, was unable to make it past the first turn. He experienced wheelspin due to being on the less clean side of the grid and then collided with the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio's bike.

Participating in his final Aragon race prior to retirement, Espargaro managed to finish on Sunday, though he was an "embarrassing" 40.6 seconds behind Marquez, placing tenth.

"I put in my best effort, but nothing seemed to go right and we ended up more than 40 seconds behind the winner, which is really disappointing," Espargaro stated. "Once again, I struggled to stay on the bike, but at least we finished in the top ten and earned some points."

Espargaro admitted that they struggled with the tyres, saying, "The tyres just wouldn't cooperate." He prioritized preventing crashes over achieving optimal performance, noting that it was challenging even to touch his knee to the ground.

"I wasn't able to tilt the bike during turns. It was an unusual and difficult situation for us to deal with. We need to understand what went wrong."

It was an even tougher race for Vinales, who fell to the very back of the pack on the first lap of Sunday’s race. He stayed in that position, only ahead of Luca Marini who started from the pit lane, until he retired shortly before the halfway point of the race.

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

"We faced challenges with the tyres functioning properly. It felt like I was on the verge of crashing at each corner, particularly with the rear tyre," Vinales stated.

"It was a tough weekend for Aprilia and me. Despite a strong showing on Friday, everything fell apart afterward."

Rewritten Text:

The challenge of getting the tires to perform on a difficult track – Marquez’s race-winning time was 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's from two years prior – appeared to mirror past issues Aprilia has faced when using slick tires on wet surfaces. "A terrible weekend," stated team leader Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick with very little grip, but then we lost our direction and ended up being roughly four seconds slower than our top times."

"We should use this poor performance as a driving force to keep analyzing and improving our work for the future races, beginning with Misano."

Trackhouse racer Miguel Oliveira, who finished fifth in the Sprint, had an accident on the first lap of the grand prix, while his teammate Raul Fernandez ended up in 16th place following a penalty for tyre pressure.

"Today was extremely challenging," Fernandez remarked. "I'm not quite sure what went wrong. Yesterday, I managed to complete three laps with relatively decent traction, although 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, which led to numerous errors."

“That race was among the toughest I've ever experienced… The good thing is that all of us on the Aprilia team are encountering the same problems. With four riders providing feedback, we can collaborate effectively to find a solution.”

Another positive update for Aprilia is that the upcoming Misano round, taking place this weekend on home turf, is expected to provide significantly better traction.

Discover More

Breaking News

Current Updates

Site Map

Crash.Net

©1999-2024 Crash Media Group

It is prohibited to reproduce the text, photos, or illustrations, whether in whole or in part, in any manner.