Aleix Espargaro “very happy” about historic day for Aprilia at Aragon MotoGP

Aleix Espargaro finished second in Practice at the Aragon MotoGP, but he played a part in a historic day for Aprilia.

Behind Espargaro, Maverick Vinales was third, Raul Fernandez ninth, and Miguel Oliveira 10th, meaning the Noale factory put all four of its bikes in Q2 for the first time.

“The last GPs, the RS-GP was not bad, so I think it’s just that Maverick [Vinales] and I are always in Q2,” Espargaro told MotoGP.com.

“I’m happy that today the Trackhouse guys [Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez] were very fast and join us. I think it’s the first time in our history that we put four bikes in the top 10, so I’m very happy, I think we deserve it.”

Espargaro’s day had not started well, the #41 languishing in 22nd at the end of FP1, last overall on Friday morning for the second weekend in succession after he was 25th in FP1 at the Red Bull Ring.

“This morning I struggled a bit with the new [asphalt], trying to understand the grip was difficult for me,” he explained.

“You don’t have enough tyres to use the good tyres in every session, so you use the worst one in FP1. So, altogether it makes my life really difficult this morning.”

It turned around in the afternoon for Espargaro, though with his feeling with the RS-GP returning to something more ordinary.

“But this afternoon I started to feel better, more standard feeling,” he said. “I was very competitive in the last part of the session which makes me very happy.”