The last Grand Prix of the year, which is traditionally contested in Valencia, has been for the Aprilia team for several years a special round of the MotoGP World Championship with its RS-GPs driven this season by Aleix Espargaró and Andrea Iannone decorated in red (RED) to support the organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006.
Over the past three years, the Piaggio Group's collaboration with (RED) has ensured more than a million days of treatment for the prevention of hidden mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In thirteen years, (RED) has contributed more than $600 million to the Global Fund in the fight against AIDS.
Aid has impacted 140 million people through prevention, care, advice and assistance operations, with particular attention to countries where the percentage of HIV transmitted from mother to child is pupil.
Overheated front tire and crash at Sepang for “The Maniac”
During the last Grand Prix contested in Malaysia, fate was not favorable to Andrea Iannone, with a fall – fortunately not serious – caused by a front tire overheated due to suction behind the motorcycles which preceded the Aprilia on the straights. Andrea explained it this way: “It was a strange race. I didn't have bad pace, but I lacked speed in a straight line. I stayed on the vacuum for a long time and things didn't get better. The temperatures started to rise, including the front tire temperature, and I struggled until the crash. We have work to do, but I have peace of mind. I will be ready when we can take a big step forward.” Progress could be recorded this weekend in Valencia, with the track layout a little more favorable to the Aprilia.
Iannone raced three times at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in 125cc on Aprilia and his best result was sixth position in 3. He finished second in Moto2008 in 2, with three appearances in this category. He then raced there four times on Ducati – with third place on the podium in 2010 – then twice on Suzuki – with sixth place in 2016.
This year, for his first season on Aprilia in MotoGP, Andrea currently occupies sixteenth place in the Championship, with his best qualifying eighth position on the grid in Australia, and his best race result sixth place, still at Phillip Island.
To Andrea Iannone, who are " Coming back to race in Europe, under normal conditions, could be a big help to us after the difficulties at Sepang. We will give everything to have a good race, but we already have our eyes fixed on what will happen after Valencia. »
“We are determined to take a big step forward after finishing this 2019 season in the best possible way. And riding with the red (RED) livery will be a great way to end the season helping all MotoGP enthusiasts not to forget such an important battle. »
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MÁRQUEZ–Honda 395 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO–Ducati 256
3 Maverick VIÑALES–Yamaha 201
4 Alex RINS–Suzuki 194
5 Danilo PETRUCCI–Ducati 176
6 Fabio QUARTARARO–Yamaha 172
7 Valentino ROSSI–Yamaha 166
8 Jack MILLER–Ducati 149
9 Cal CRUTCHLOW–Honda 133
10 Franco MORBIDELLI–Yamaha 115
11 Pol ESPARGARÓ–KTM 94
12 Joan MIR–Suzuki 83
13 Takaaki NAKAGAMI–Honda 74
14 Aleix ESPARGARÓ–Aprilia 56
15 Francesco BAGNAIA–Ducati 54
16 Andrea IANNONE–Aprilia 43
17 Miguel OLIVEIRA–KTM 33
18 Johann ZARCO–Honda 30
19 Jorge LORENZO–Honda 25
20 Tito RABAT–Ducati 18
21 Stefan BRADL–Honda 16
22 Michele PIRRO–Ducati 9
23 Hafizh SYAHRIN–KTM 8
24 Sylvain GUINTOLI–Suzuki 7
25 Karel ABRAHAM–Ducati 7
26 Mika KALLIO–KTM 3
27 Bradley SMITH–Aprilia 0
Andrea Iannone and Jorge Lorenzo
Photos © Aprilia / Piaggio Group
