If Mugello is Ducati's Grand Prix, as it is located not far from the headquarters of Bologna, Misano is that of Aprilia, on the Adriatic Coast, as is the headquarters of Noale, approximately 250 km from the circuit. It was on this track that Aprilia made its debut in the World Championship exactly 30 years ago with Loris Reggiani in the 250. It was the beginning of a great and beautiful adventure, with 54 world titles, including 38 in GP. with 294 victories.
RS-GP is progressing steadily, allowing Alex Espargaro to currently be in thirteenth place in the provisional general classification, tied on points with Jack Miller. In the manufacturers' standings, Aprilia is in fifth position with 45 points, between Suzuki which has 52 and KTM with 34. In the teams' standings, the Aprilia Gresini team is eleventh out of twelve, preceding only the KTM team.
Espargaro's best results this year were sixth place in Qatar, seventh in Germany and eighth in Brno. His most brilliant qualification was fifth position in Catalonia, in the middle of the second row.
At Silverstone during the last GP, Aleix was unable to defend his chances due to intercostal pain due to an injury suffered during a day of karting.
According to Alex Espargaro, who are " I rested well after Silverstone to recover from my injury. The tests carried out here went well. They let us take another step forward and we come to Misano to have a good race. This is a special occasion for Aprilia and I will give it my all. »
According to Roman Albesian, the Aprilia Competition Director, “We are heading to Misano quite optimistic, especially in light of the tests carried out here two weeks ago, which were definitely positive. We will probably have an aerodynamic update, basically in line with the interpretation of the rules which seem to be consolidated at this point. From a technical point of view, we will mainly focus on testing with a full fuel tank, since the first laps of the race are where we struggle the most. »
For the team manager Fausto Gresini, « Misano is a very important GP for us. It won't be easy at all, but the goal is to bring home a good result that can repay us for the hard work we've done so far. It would be fantastic for Aprilia, for the team, for our partners and for the riders. If I have to make a prediction, I would like to aim for the top 6 and I think we have the potential to be there. Aleix is obviously our best driver, but we are doing our best to let Sam express his full potential at the end of the season. »
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 183 points
2 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 174
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 170
4 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 157
5 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 148
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 109
7 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 90
8 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 89
9 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 77
10 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 75
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 58
12 Scott REDDING-Ducati 45
13 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 43
14 Jack MILLER-Honda 43
15 Loris BAZ Ducati 39
