Disastrous Aragon MotoGP: Aprilia Struggles, Espargaro’s Embarrassing Finish, Vinales’ Early Exit

Disastrous weekend for Aprilia, disappointing Aragon MotoGP race

Aleix Espargaro ends up trailing Marc Marquez by an "embarrassing" 40 seconds, while Maverick Vinales withdraws halfway through the race.

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

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

At first, the significant 2.9-second (Espargaro) and 3.7-second (Vinales) gaps behind Marquez's pole position time in qualifying seemed like an anomaly.

However, the gap was evident in the Sprint race, with Vinales ending up in 19th place and coming in last, 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 due to being on the less clean side of the grid and ended up hitting the rear of Fabio di Giannantonio.

In his final Aragon race before retiring, Espargaro managed to finish, crossing the line on Sunday. However, he was a disappointing 40.6 seconds behind Marquez and ended up in tenth place.

"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 stated. "Once more, 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 perform properly. He explained that he concentrated more on preventing crashes than on optimizing his performance. He added that it was challenging to even 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, and it's difficult to come to terms with. We need to investigate what went wrong."

Circumstances were even more challenging for Vinales, who fell to the last position right at the start of Sunday's race. He stayed there, except for pit lane starter Luca Marini, until he withdrew shortly before the halfway point of the race.

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

Vinales mentioned that they struggled with the tyres, making it feel like he was on the verge of crashing at every corner, particularly due to issues with the rear tyre.

"The weekend proved challenging for both Aprilia and myself; despite a strong showing on Friday, everything fell apart afterward."

The challenge of getting the tires to perform well 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 in wet conditions. "A terrible weekend," said team boss Massimo Rivola. "On Friday, we were quick despite having little grip, but then we lost our momentum and ended up around four seconds slower than our best times."

“This poor showing should drive us to keep up our efforts in analysis and development as we look ahead to the next races, beginning with Misano.”

Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira, who finished fifth in the Sprint, was involved in a crash on the first lap of the grand prix. Meanwhile, his team-mate Raul Fernandez ended up in 16th place due to a penalty for tyre pressure.

"Today was extremely challenging," Fernandez expressed. "I'm quite puzzled by what occurred. The previous day, I managed to complete three laps with relatively decent grip, although I did encounter some tyre graining. However, today, there was no grip at all."

"I had no traction and felt like I was racing on ice the entire time, which caused me to make numerous errors."

"That race was among the toughest I've ever experienced… The silver lining is that all of us at Aprilia are encountering the same problems. With four riders providing feedback, we can collaborate to find a solution."

Another positive update for Aprilia is that the upcoming home race at Misano this weekend is expected to provide significantly better traction.

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