Hyped one-two in Barcelona, no chance of podium in Misano – Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales give the reasons – Best team result for RNF
This is how quickly the picture turns in MotoGP. In Barcelona, Aprilia rejoiced over their first double success in the premier class. A week later, they failed to make it onto the podium under their own steam. In the sprint, Maverick Vinales finished sixth and Aleix Espargaro eighth. Vinales finished the Grand Prix in fifth place and Espargaro finished twelfth.
“MotoGP is like that now. You can’t win every weekend,” Espargaro says. Why was the difference between Barcelona and Misano so glaring? “Difficult to say, but I think we put less weight on the rear wheel.”
“When the track offers a lot of grip, it changes the balance completely. I don’t think we have the torque like Ducati and KTM. So when you are limited with the electronics, the traction control, our bike looks better.”
“When there is a lot of grip and they put the complete power on the ground, it becomes more difficult for us. In acceleration I lost a lot to Binder and Pedrosa. On a track like this Ducati and KTM are better, but on tracks with fast corners Aprilia is better.”
Therefore, looking ahead to 2024, Espargaro maintains, “We need to improve our engine. On stop-and-go tracks we need more torque. I didn’t overtake anyone the whole race. From fifth place onwards it was like a train. My race was over after the start.”
That the grip conditions played a role is something Vinales also believes. In Friday practice he was fast and counted among the favourites. But in the sprint there was chattering at the rear wheel with the soft rear tyre. On Saturday it was suspected that this was due to the soft tyre.
On Sunday, Aprilia also chose the medium rear tyre. But for Vinales, the problems with vibration remained. “It limited the acceleration a bit,” mused the Spaniard. “I don’t know why I had so much trouble with the rear tyre.”
“It was strange because on Friday it felt very good. Maybe it was because of the grip that built up over the weekend. We didn’t take advantage of it, it got worse and worse. I was struggling on corner entry. “
“In Spielberg and Barcelona I was very strong there. So it looks like we are strong on tracks with little grip at the entrance of the corners. It sounds strange, but here I had to brake earlier because otherwise I wouldn’t have made the corners.”
So where does Aprilia stand in the pecking order now? “Barcelona and Misano are two different tracks,” Vinales holds. “Here there was a lot of grip and everyone was fast. I think we have to take as reference Assen, Silverstone, where there are medium levels of grip. There we were quite fast. “
Best MotoGP result for Raul Fernandez
There was joy in the satellite team. Because RNF achieved the best overall team result this year. With Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez making it into Q2, it was the first time all four Aprilia riders were in the second qualifying section.
Raul Fernandez finished the sprint in eleventh place, just ahead of his experienced teammate. In the Grand Prix, Oliveira finished sixth and Fernandez claimed the best result of his MotoGP career in eighth.
Key to Fernandez’s upward trend was a change in the RS-GP’s set-up. “We changed some crazy things that I would never have believed in,” laughed the 22-year-old. “But with that we improved the bike a lot. “
“I am really happy because I feel more competitive day by day. I can use my riding style more now. It’s been a long time since I haven’t enjoyed it so much on the bike. Day by day I feel I am coming.”
“I didn’t have the confidence before to attack the corners like I do now. Now I can do what I want with the bike. In some areas I still have to work to understand the electronics better. That’s still my weakness.”
After the sprint, Oliveira was not entirely satisfied because the soft rear tyre was not setting up good performance. He also struggled to turn in properly and take speed in the fast turn 11. “Because of that, there was a yoyo effect to the riders in front of me,” said the Portuguese.
On Sunday, things went much better for Oliveira: “I am happy with the race. The feeling for the bike was better. The medium rear tyre also helped a bit. The bike was a bit nicer to ride. I am happy with the performance. Most of the time I was just behind Vinales.”
With this successful weekend, RNF also made a jump in the team standings. They overtook Tech3 and LCR to move up to eighth place.