Aprilia fears bleak Aragon repeat “will probably occur” in upcoming flyaway MotoGP races
Aprilia boss offers bleak outlook for coming races
The factory Aprilia squad’s team principal Paolo Bonora fears a repeat of its Aragon MotoGP woes “will probably occur” in the upcoming flyaway races.
Aprilia was expected to have a strong weekend last time out in Aragon due to the layout of the circuit suiting the RS-GP’s strong cornering ability.
But following a good Friday on the new asphalt, the continual overnight rain that hit the are made grip conditions worse on the track and Aprilia endured a torrid grand prix.
Aleix Espargaro was 40.602 seconds off the race win in 10th, while team-mate Maverick Vinales retired due to a lack of grip - which, at one stage, saw him over 50s off the lead.
Bonora says the lack of grip worked against the RS-GP’s strong points and fears Aprilia could be in for more pain when it gets to the flyaway races due to often unstable weather conditions at those events.
“Was so difficult, Aragon, much more than expected,” he said on Friday at the San Marino Grand Prix.
“During free practice one, we saw immediately that there was no grip at all with the new surface.
“We expected a track improvement during the weekend, did during Friday afternoon.
“The rubber that was put into the track on Friday afternoon helped us a lot, but suddenly the rain on Friday night changed the behaviour of the circuit, it changed the situation.
“So, it was so difficult for us. We did not find the way to give confidence to our riders.
“We understand probably it is related to our ability not on fast corners and using the lean angle to make the speed.
“But if we have no grip at all it is so difficult to use the advantage [of our bike].
“So, it is necessary to understand this situation because probably will occur other times, particularly in the Asian circuits when there will be rain and sun.
“So, we have to be much faster in the modification of the bike to understand this situation.”
Aprilia enjoyed a strong start to this weekend’s Misano round, with Espargaro sixth in FP1 and Vinales ninth.
