The rain that fell during the night between Friday and Saturday and that dirtied the asphalt laid a few days ago damaged Aprilia much more than the other brands. The Noale manufacturer went into deep crisis, both in qualifying and in the Sprint. Of the two riders of the Italian brand, only Maverick Vinales managed to reach the finish line, but last. The rider from Roses crossed the finish line 37 seconds after the winner Marc Marquez, who beat him by more than three seconds per lap, a real eternity.
Espargaro, for his part, ended up on the ground at the first corner, after having skidded when releasing the clutch, losing the front of his RS-GP when braking and hitting the Ducati of Fabio Di Giannantonio from behind, who fortunately managed to continue his race and finish 15th.
For the Spaniard, those in charge of supervising the track conditions should have done something to clean the surface of the circuit, especially after several drivers had turned to them warning them of the complications that could be caused by so much dirt. According to #41, these appeals went in one ear and out the other.
“When we got to the starting grid, both Maverick and I let the guys at Dorna know that our side of the grid, the left one, was completely brown. And they told us that they already knew that,” said the eldest of the Granollers brothers.
Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“The track conditions are unacceptable. Half the grid, after the first five laps, was riding with Moto2 times. We are in Europe, we have the tools to clean the asphalt; we are not in Qatar or Indonesia,” continued Aleix Espargaro, before adding: “The bikes have evolved a lot in recent times. And Marc, who has always been on another planet, was two seconds slower than two years ago.”
Three hours after the end of the short race, two water trucks and a group of workers cleaned up the area of the finishing straight, probably in response to complaints.
Despite their complaints, both Espargaro and Vinales did not hide the Aprilia’s decline in Aragon, where the lack of grip caused the bike to take a step back. “All this is not an excuse, because Aprilia must improve, since the conditions are the same for everyone,” reflected the veteran, who will retire at the end of the season. “My qualifying lap was four seconds slower than yesterday. I don’t think there’s anything that can be done,” added Vinales.
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