After the crash of Andrea Iannone during the recent Japanese Grand Prix due to a technical problem, then the modest fifteenth place of Aleix Espargaró for the same reason, despite the ninth qualifying time 0.7 from pole position, Massimo Rivola, the new Director of Aprilia Racing, replaced his two drivers during the traditional post-race briefing. There was obviously a fire.
“I felt the need to speak myself in place of the two pilots started Rivola. The choice to speak in place of the pilots comes from me. I want Andrea and Aleix to stay in peace because today we all expected a good result but due to two technical problems things went wrong. On Grand Prix Sunday, we had good feelings especially with Aleix, explained the former Ferrari sporting director. The tire choice was correct and his start was good. Already after one lap, however, we noticed that Aleix did not have the pace shown in the morning during the warm-up, and there we realized that there was a problem. »
In the race, Andrea crashed due to an engine problem. This engine was new and so we have to disassemble it and analyze it to understand what was the problem and try to use it also for the next race in Australia.
“We have had some problems recently: in Buriram with the electric order and in Motegi with the engine. Reliability is not at its best, but it is also true that we are at the end of the useful life of a particular engine. We have to finish the season in the best possible conditions. Aleix is often in Q2 and not being able to make the most of his potential hurts the team. »
“The fact that we're not expressing ourselves the best we can is a combination of problems and I think the solution is a combination of improvements. We must improve quality and processes to have a more reliable and competitive product.
“Aprilia can resolve the situation and try to get back on track in 2020 because it is part of a very strong group: the Piaggio group. We have to earn their trust and having these problems when you can perform well is not the best way. We can’t go to bed peacefully because we made mistakes and now we have to fix them.”
The situation is all the more critical as Aprilia is ninth in the team standings (ahead of Tech 3 and Avintia) and last in the manufacturers standings, far behind with KTM. Aleix Espargaró is fourteenth in the Championship and Iannone seventeenth.
Espargaró finished ninth last year at Phillip Island on Aprilia, just like in 2015 on Suzuki. His best result in MotoGP was eighth position in 2010 on a Pramac Racing Team Ducati. In the lower displacements, he placed eighth in 2008 on 250 Aprilias, but never better since his Grand Prix debut in 2005.
According to Alex Espargaro, who are " In Japan, I had a really good race and throughout the weekend and even during the warm-up, I was always in the top 10. It's a shame that we had a problem, but it's part of the race. »
“Phillip Island is a good circuit for us and I have always been competitive here with the RS-GP. We also have to see what the weather forecast does, since it speaks of rain and wind, but it could be a favorable weekend. »
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1.Marc Márquez 350. 2. Dovizioso 231. 3. Rins 176. 4. Viñales 176. 5. Petrucci 169. 6. Quartararo 163. 7. Rossi 145. 8. Miller 125. 9. Crutchlow 113. 10. Morbidelli 100 11. Pol Espargaró 85. 12. Nakagami 74. 13. Mir 66. 14. Aleix Espargaro 47. 15. Bagnaia 37. 16. Oliveira 33. 17. Iannone 33. 18. Zarco 27. 19. Lorenzo 23. 20. Rabat 18. 21. Bradl 16. 22. Pirro 9. 23. Guintoli 7. 24. Syahrin 7. 25. Abraham 5. 26. Kallio 2.
Photos © Aprilia / Piaggio Group
