Aprilia MotoGP heat woes return: “I almost couldn’t make it”, “I was done”

Aleix Espargaro finished his final flyaway race as an Aprilia MotoGP rider in 13th as the RS-GP’s heat issues resurfaced at Sepang.

After last year’s Thai round, where team-mate Maverick Vinales was forced to retire due to the roasting heat and Espargaro “couldn’t breathe”, the factory pledged to improve the ventilation.

But while this year's Buriram rain ‘solved’ the Thai Grand Prix temperatures, the a baking 34-degree Sepang took its toll on Espargaro and his all-black bike.

Starting 16th, the Spaniard climbed to twelfth by mid-distance, before losing a place to the recovering Marc Marquez on the final lap

“Extremely difficult for us and even more when you start that far on the grid. It was really a nightmare!” Espargaro said.

“I could not overtake anybody and the engine was very slow due to the heat.

“I suffered a lot. In the last three laps, I almost couldn’t make it until the end. I couldn’t even handle the handlebar, it was amazing the heat.”

Espargaro claimed no significant improvement has been made to reduce the heat since last year.

“Not at all, it’s even worse when you are at the back of the grid," Espargaro said.

"This morning, I felt strong in the warm-up, but at the start it was impossible to recover places. No way to overtake. The bike was very, very slow.”

A quick-restart procedure, following the red flag, was cited by some riders as contributing to the heat emitted by the bikes in the early laps.

Espargaro's front tyre pressure also soared in the dirty air.

“I started very, very low and on the last three laps I could not even brake because of the [tyre] temperature," he said.

Raul Fernandez: “I was done”

Espargaro wasn’t the only Aprilia rider to fear he might not see the chequered flag.

An exhausted Raul Fernandez faded from 13th to 16th as he backed off dramatically in the closing laps.

“I was very close to [retiring],” confirmed the Trackhouse rider. “It was super difficult to manage with the temperature on the bike.

“The last four laps I was done. I tried to finish the race out of respect to the team and all my mechanics.

“I was with the group. I couldn’t overtake… But the last four laps, I couldn’t lie on the bike!

“I was all the straight with my head out of the bike to take some air. But it's really difficult especially when you have a slipstream, you don't take air. So you cannot [cool] the body a little bit.

“I don't feel the hand. I don't feel the foot. I couldn't take air. It was everything.”

Espargaro’s factory team-mate Maverick Vinales finished as the top Aprilia in seventh place.

Vinales described the heat levels on Sunday “as usual, hot and hard, but I could finish with a good rhythm”.

However, Fernandez explained that Vinales had been riding in clear air, several seconds behind Fabio Quartararo.

“I think Maverick did a good start and all the race without a slipstream. So he was alone,” Fernandez said. “Maybe for that reason he did more or less the [normal] race.

“But in my case and Aleix, we were in the same group. I had four slipstreams, four bikes in front of me all the race and he had three.

“I didn't expect something like this here. It was maybe like Thailand last year [or] a little bit worse.”

Fernandez is the only MotoGP rider remaining with Aprilia in 2025 with Espargaro switching to Honda testing duties, Vinales joining Tech3 KTM and injured Trackhouse team-mate Miguel Oliveira moving to Pramac Yamaha.

Lorenzo Savadori, riding in place of the injured Oliveira at Sepang, finished in last place.

Fortunately for the Aprilias, overheating won't be a problem at the 2024 season finale, now scheduled for Barcelona in two weeks.