Busy day at Aprilia
Aprilia Racing continues its growth, sometimes supported by sensational results, such as first and second place a week ago in the Barcelona race (the only MotoGP team to have achieved this result in the season), sometimes with less flashy but equally significant results . The Misano circuit, not exactly the favorite of the RS-GP, saw Viñales and Aleix finish with a good placing, sixth and eighth respectively in the Sprint on Saturday.
Even more significant was bringing the four Aprilias onto the track in Q2. Viñales and Fernandez, already qualified thanks to the top ten on Friday, were joined by Espargaró and Oliveira, first and second in today’s first qualifying. At the end of Q2 the two factories conquered the second row (Maverick fourth and Aleix sixth) while the Cryptodata RNF riders occupied the fourth row with tenth (Oliveira) and twelfth position (Fernandez).
The race saw Viñales and Aleix Espagarò stay close to the leaders but without ever finding the opportunity to close the gap at least with the riders fighting for third place. Now, using the Sprint data and the drivers’ reports, we are working in the garage to improve the RS-GPs in view of tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
The pilots’ statements
Aleix Espargarò: “Even though it might seem like a disappointing result, I can actually consider myself satisfied. On an unfavorable track, after yesterday’s difficulties, I managed to finish close to Maverick who is driving very fast here and not too far from the podium. Even physically I was better than expected, I thought I would wake up sore but I can say I didn’t have any major problems. We’ll see what we can do in the long race, a very different situation compared to today“.
Maverick Viñales: “Today with the soft tire I didn’t find the best feeling, the bike was moving a lot. It’s something we need to understand well and work on. Tomorrow things should be different, in race configuration with the medium tire we showed that we can be very fast. However, the Sprint was important to understand the behavior of the bike and better prepare for the long race. It will be essential to be at the front from the start”.
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