After experiencing several disappointments this year, the Aprilia team had its best weekend of the season in Aragon and finally managed to demonstrate the potential of its RS-GP when it was spared from small problems.
At the end of free practice, Aleix Espargaro qualified for Q2 with the seventh time, ahead of Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi et Jorge Lorenzo. He confirmed during qualifying practice with the eighth fastest time.
In the race, he started in ninth position on the first lap, then quickly overtook Mika Kallio. He then gained a place following the fall of Cal Crutchlow. Seventh with five laps remaining, he was overtaken by Alvaro Bautista, then passed the Spaniard again at the end of the race, as well as Andrea Dovizioso, which assured him sixth place in the final.
This equaled Aprilia's best result this year, having already achieved a sixth position in the first race in Qatar. But if the gap at the finish compared to the first was 7.6 in Doha, this Sunday in Aragon it was only 6.9. The last four Grands Prix of the year therefore seem to be shaping up well for the Spanish driver and the Italian manufacturer.
According to Alex Espargaro, who are " I think everyone had fun on Sunday. It's not often that many riders come so close to the checkered flag in MotoGP. It was a tough race, but I enjoyed it.
“At one point I thought I might be able to move up to fourth place with Valentino and Maverick, but when there were only a few laps left, they got into their rhythm and I had to settle for my place . In any case, I am satisfied with sixth place, but especially with the gap behind the winner.
“We’re constantly improving and we’re showing it basically every weekend. Unfortunately, we lacked consistent results. In any case, we still have four races to go to the tracks that I really like, so I want to finish this season well. »
For Aprilia Competition Director Romano Albesiano, who are " It was a good weekend. During testing and in the race, we were finally able to express our potential and it is important to have done it on a track where everything counts, from the engine to the chassis architecture to the fine tuning, a real test bench and the one of the best ways to demonstrate our value. Performance has been consistently very high. »
According to the team manager Fausto Gresini, « A fantastic race, as we had planned. Aleix was fast and the bike worked well. Today, we have harvested what our potential allows. This race helps, especially for the motivation of the team, to reward the great efforts made so far. Everyone deserves to be complimented, from those working in the shop to the guys out here on the track. It’s a great team who believed in the project and worked hard with heart and soul. »
Provisional ranking of the World Championship (Top 20):
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 224 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 208
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 196
4 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 170
5 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 168
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 117
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 106
8 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 95
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 92
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 84
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 70
12 Jack MILLER-Honda 56
13 Scott REDDING-Ducati 56
14 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 53
15 Loris BAZ-Ducati 39
16 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 37
17 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 37
18 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 28
19 Tito RABAT-Honda 28
20 Alex RINS-Suzuki 27
Photos © Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
