Aprilia: “Difficult to say something good because we didn’t achieve our goals”

Winners of the third MotoGP race last season with Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia have enjoyed very little success compared to this time last year.

Along with his win, Espargaro also had four podiums to his name in eight races, whereas he and Maverick Vinales have combined for just two podiums through eight rounds (16 races) this season. 

• Nakagami’s Honda woes: “Four chassis, four strategies, couldn’t share ideas” 
• “New challenge” - Did a tennis legend accidentally leak Marc Marquez news?

"It’s difficult to say something good because we didn’t achieve the goals that we set in the first part of the season, despite the step that we did with the new bike," said Bonora when speaking to MotoGP.com. 

"It is better than last season but for many reasons, such as injuries and weather conditions like in Argentina, for example, we didn’t achieve the best results. 

"We are happy about our riders because seeing the energy of Aleix and Maverick, but also Miguel and Raul, we feel like we’re now in the position to make another step technically, to give the riders the confidence that they need to achieve a better result for the next part of the season."

Ducati have remained a step above Aprilia this season, although the gap between the two manufacturers has seemingly grown.

Vinales and Espargaro have both been very strong at times, particularly in practice conditions, however, that same pace has not translated into the results they would have been expecting.  

Qualifying has again been key as Ducati and KTM riders have been the stars of the show more often than not, which has given Espargaro and Vinales too much work to do.

Discussing how close MotoGP is at present, Bonora added: "The MotoGP championship now is at such a high level that even one more tenth means that you are in the top five positions or behind the top ten. 

"We have to improve the session-by-session working method inside the garage, to fix everything in the perfect way. 

"To be honest, we know our worst point is the braking area and we need to give the riders more confidence in that situation, particularly overtaking during the race."