**”Aragon Agony: Aprilia’s ‘Embarrassing’ MotoGP Woes Highlight Dire Weekend”**

Disastrous Weekend for Aprilia, Disappointing Performance at Aragon MotoGP

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

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales ended Friday's MotoGP practice session at Aragon with only Marc Marquez ahead of them on the leaderboard.

Nonetheless, the rainfall during the night on both Friday and Saturday left them struggling.

At first, Espargaro being 2.9 seconds and Vinales being 3.7 seconds slower than Marquez's pole position time during qualifying seemed like an unusual event.

However, this gap was evident during the Sprint race, with Vinales coming in 19th and last, trailing Marquez by 37.6 seconds, which averaged to 3.4 seconds per lap.

Espargaro couldn't make it past the first turn due to wheelspin on the less clean side of the starting grid, which led to him hitting the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio's bike.

In what was his final Aragon race before retiring, Espargaro managed to finish on Sunday but was a "humiliating" 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 disappointing," Espargaro commented. "Once again, I struggled to stay on the bike, but at least we managed to finish in the top ten and earn some points."

Espargaro admitted that they couldn't get the tires to function properly. He mentioned that he concentrated more on preventing a crash than on his performance, adding that it was challenging to even get his knee to touch the ground.

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

The situation was even more dire for Vinales, who immediately fell to the rear of the pack on Sunday’s first lap. He stayed there, with the exception of Luca Marini who started from the pit lane, until he withdrew from the race just before reaching the halfway point.

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

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

"The weekend proved challenging for both Aprilia and myself. Despite a strong showing on Friday, everything seemed to fall apart afterwards."

The struggle to get the tires to perform on a challenging track surface was evident, as Marquez's race-winning time was 12 seconds slower than Enea Bastianini's from two years prior. This issue seemed to echo past problems Aprilia has faced when using slick tires in wet conditions. "It was a terrible weekend," stated team principal Massimo Rivola. "We were quick on Friday despite limited grip, but then we lost our direction, finishing around four seconds slower than our best times."

"This poor outcome should inspire us to keep analyzing and improving as we prepare for the upcoming 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. His team-mate Raul Fernandez ended up in 16th place after receiving a penalty for tyre pressure.

"Today was extremely challenging," Fernandez commented. "I'm not quite sure what went wrong. Yesterday, I managed to complete three laps with relatively decent traction, but then the tires started to show significant wear. However, today, I had no grip at all."

"I struggled with traction throughout the race, feeling as if I were driving on ice, which led to numerous errors on my part."

"That race was among the toughest I've ever experienced. The silver lining is that all of us in the Aprilia team are encountering the same challenges. With four riders providing input, we can collaborate effectively to determine the best course of action."

Another piece of positive news for Aprilia is that the upcoming Misano round, which is on their home turf, is expected to provide significantly better traction.

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