Category: Crew On Two

Aprilia’s positive trend was confirmed once again under the chequered flag at Aragón. The RS-GP machines ridden by Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl finished respectively in ninth and tenth place, with a gap behind the leader of just over 20 seconds for the Spaniard (23.071 for Bautista, 27.898 for Bradl).
This is a result that Aprilia has built toward throughout the championship, developing a bike in its true rookie season even directly in the races.

The race, where Bradl started from the twelfth spot on the grid and Alvaro from the fourteenth, began well straight away for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders, moving up through the ranks in the initial phases. In the subsequent laps, Bautista and Bradl’s pace shown through, both skilfully maintaining interesting times while their direct rivals showed an increasingly marked drop in performance. During the seventh lap, Alvaro overtook his teammate, proceeding to hunt down the pair made up of Pol Espargaró and Andrea Dovizioso. He engaged in a heated battle with the rider from Forlì, coming out on top and moving into a nice ninth place. Behind him, Stefan Bradl continued his progress, finishing the race in tenth place.

Bautista: We have definitely taken a step forward

“A good weekend for us, ending with a double top 10. I had good sensations in the saddle throughout all the practice sessions and we did a good job. The, in FP4, when I had a consistent pace even with used tyres, I realized that we could do well in the race. I battled with Hernandez and with Dovi, managing to overtake them, and I fell in behind Pol whose times were very similar to mine. We maintained a good pace and I saw that we continued to make up ground on the group that was battling for fifth place, but toward the end of the race I lost a bit of feeling with the rear tyre. In any case, ninth place is a great result for me and for Aprilia, considering Stefan’s performance as well. Since Misano we have definitely taken a step forward and I wish to thank the team and the guys who are hard at work at home. Now we will continue in this direction to finish the season well”.

Bradl: I have high expectations

“I am happy with the top 10 and the weekend in general. We improved during practice and I hope to be able to continue this trend in the coming races. We took a step forward in terms of settings from the Misano race, especially improving in the braking phase and giving me a better feeling with the front tyre. We were able to further perfect things here, finding a good base straight away on Friday and then working to sort the details. Obviously, there is still room for improvement, for example in taking better advantage of the rear tyre to be faster with new tyres, but we are not far off. Now I have high expectations for myself for the season finale”.

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

After a satisfying Saturday, that ended up with the double Top 10 earned in qualifying, the Sunday at Aragon does not give joy to the Octo Yakhnich Pramac team.

The start was good and Scott was able to overcome Petrux. At the first corner, the riders were ninth and tenth respectively, but a contact between the two forced the British rider to go wide and lose the front on the curb. Back on track after the crash, Scott finished the race without being able to fight for any points. After the clash, Danilo continued the race also if he had to deal with some technical problems that forced him to lap without a good pace. On lap 9, the Race Direction, after reviewing the contact, fined Petrux a “ride-through” penalty.

At that point, even his race was compromised. Petrux and Scott have finished respectively 17th and 19th.

Redding: It was really frustrating

“I am very sorry for what happened. I do not think it is a beautiful thing when it happens between teammates. I started quite well then that contact made me go wide and I could not avoid the crash. I continued until the end, but it was really frustrating because in the last 3 races I have not had the chance to fight with the others to gain experience with this bike in dry condition.”

Petrucci: I’m mortified

“I am very sorry for what happened with Scott. Since the first corner, I experienced problems with the bike, I could not brake properly, I was always going wide. Unfortunately, I touched Scott. I felt it was not a very heavy touch, but it was heavy enough to push him off the track. I am really mortified. He is very angry and will apologize. The remaining of the race was really hard.”

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró put in strong performances on their Team SUZUKI ECSTAR GSX-RRs at today’s Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón MotoGP in Spain after having led the race for several laps.

Viñales – choosing a hard/ hard Michelin tyre combination – took the lead on the opening of 23 laps at Motorland Aragon from his second position on the grid, and, apart from losing his lead a few times momentarily, controlled the race until almost half race-distance before running wide, but fought back to bring home a solid fourth-place and just off the podium.

Espargaró – using a medium front/ hard rear tyre choice – was also very much in the mix with the leading pack and at one stage moved to fifth position, eventually scoring seventh.

Maverick Viñales: I gave 100%
“Another positive race for me, although I’m never fully satisfied when I’m off the podium, but we must say that we gave 100% today. When the grip was supporting me I could do a really good pace, and in fact I took the lead in the race. I felt really confident and the lap-times came quickly and easily. Then suddenly the rear tyre lost performance due to the consumption and that is when I had to give-it-up a little. I couldn’t feel confident with hard-braking and also in acceleration, and trying to force the pace I made some mistakes that warned me to be more conservative in my riding. It was important to not have a crash and to finish the race; fourth is a lot better than a ‘NC.’ We knew I could have problems towards the end of the race with a worn tyre, we tried to put in some countermeasures with the electronics, but we still need to better-develop this set-up. We are continually learning and my crew did a really good job, we are getting better and better and the results in last races are evidence on this.”

Aleix Espargaró: It was too late
“I had bigger expectations for the race, especially to be more competitive at the beginning because the progress we made in this morning’s Warm-Up gave me bigger hopes. The start was positive but then I struggled a lot to overtake for the fifth position in the second part of the race, which was the one needed to keep in contact with the head of the race. When I succeeded it was too late to catch up. Anyway my feeling was a little better than last races but I still struggle to find a good feeling with the front. I’m not able to interpret the front tyre and exploit its potential. We made a lot of attempts and changes but I can’t adapt my riding style and so I cannot be as fast as I would like to be. I had a really good fight until the end, but finally I made a small mistake on the last lap and I lost sixth position.”

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

Marc Marquez returned to the top spot of the podium at a Spanish race for the first time since the 2014 finale in Valencia, taking a maiden victory at the Aragón GP. At just 23 years of age, Marquez brings his career tally to 54 wins, equalling Australian legend Mick Doohan. The only rider so far this year to win four races, Marc has extended his championship lead to 52 points over Valentino Rossi and 66 over Jorge Lorenzo, with four rounds to go.

The race was incredibly challenging and close. Starting from pole, Marc fought hard to overtake Maverick Viñales and Lorenzo, taking the lead on the second lap. Soon after, a risky moment on lap three could have changed the outcome of his race; Marc almost lost the front in turn 7 and nearly crashed out. He saved it but dropped back to fifth.

It took the Spaniard a few laps to calm down and begin his recovery; he overtook Andrea Dovizioso on lap five, Lorenzo on lap seven, Viñales on lap 10 and finally Rossi on lap 12. He pushed hard for a few laps to pull a gap and then managed the advantage until the chequered flag. Marc was joined on the podium by Honda Motor Director Shinji Aoyama, celebrating the fifth victory by a Honda rider in the last seven races and Honda extending its leading in the Constructor and Team standings.

Dani Pedrosa struggled the entire race with lack of both front and rear tyre grip. In particular, he suffered an unusual degradation of the front tyre, which Michelin will promptly investigate. It was a pity Dani was not able to exploit the great potential he had displayed in the practice sessions, but his determination to fight hard allowed him to gain the 10 points that come with sixth place and to maintain his fourth place in the Championship standings.

Marc Marquez: It was a miracle I didn’t crash

“I’m very happy to have taken the win at a home Grand Prix, and one of my favourite races. I was waiting for this GP, it was a ‘red point’ on the calendar for me, as I saw it as one where I wanted to attack and where I could win the race. It was an important victory, but nothing is finished yet. I said yesterday that something can always happen in a race, and it was a miracle that I didn’t crash today when I almost lost it in turn 7. That was when I decided to relax a little and go back to my mentality from practice of riding precisely and braking in the right places. All this made for a more entertaining race, with many overtaking moves at the start, and a second part in which I was able to open a gap to Valentino, which was important. He had gone several races gaining points on us, and we wanted to stop that trend, because otherwise it would boost his morale and perhaps create doubts for us. Now we leave Aragón with a larger advantage and more convinced ahead of the flyaways. I was very happy on the podium, but the most emotional moment for me today was when [brother] Alex scored his first Moto2 podium. That was really special for me.”

Dani Pedrosa: I didn’t have grip

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have a good result today, as we had a very difficult race. I didn’t have grip since the beginning of the race; I couldn’t exit the corners with good speed, and that turned out to be my biggest problem in the opening laps. I couldn’t open the throttle out of the corner and I lost ground on the front guys. I tried to manage in the best way possible, but a few laps later I started to have an issue with front tyre as well. I started feeling a vibration, and when I finished the race it was clear there was some problem there. I tried to fight with Crutchlow but I had to slow down my pace. It was a shame but now we must look forward.”

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

Today’s Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón proved to be the most action-filled race of the season so far, as Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo fought off his rivals to secure a hard-fought second place. Teammate Valentino Rossi also used his YZR-M1 to the fullest to fend off the competition and secured the fourth double podium of the season for the Factory Yamaha team.

Lorenzo didn’t let a crash in warm-up this morning hold him back in today’s race. The local hero had a brilliant start from third on the grid and fought for the holeshot with Marc Marquez. Maverick Viñales soon joined the fight for the front, beginning a Spanish duel that had the race fans on the edge of their seats. A flurry of activity followed that saw Lorenzo finish the first lap in third position, closely followed by his teammate. A mistake by Marquez two laps later made Lorenzo storm to second place and he continued to claw his way to Viñales, but he had to let his teammate past.

The top three riders briefly formed a leading group as they upped their pace, dropping low 1’49s laps. However, Marquez was closing in and with 17 laps remaining he found a way past Lorenzo, but the Mallorcan wasn’t fazed. He made his experience count and waited for the right moment to fight his way back to the front, which came with 14 laps to go when he didn’t need a second invitation to pass Viñales after the compatriot had gone wide.

Lorenzo cleverly continued his race in such a way that he still had enough rubber left on his Michelins to make a final charge five laps before the end of the race to smoothly take over second place. He was consistently stalked by Rossi, but he didn’t let it shake his confidence and held off the Italian’s attack to take second place over the line, 2.740s from first.

Teammate Rossi had a good start from his sixth place grid position and slotted into fourth place after turn 1, determined not to let the leading group out of his sight. With 21 laps to go, Marquez dropped back to fifth, allowing Rossi to take hold of a podium finish for the first time in the race, fuelling his ambitions even further. He hunted down his teammate and bided his time to make a move with 18 laps left, to close the gap to the race leader. He was the first rider to drop into the 1’48s as he reeled in Viñales and went on to take the lead of the race after a block pass in turn 4 with 15 laps to go.

The Doctor’s pace proved too hot for the Spaniard, who went wide in turn 1 a lap later, allowing Rossi some breathing space before Marquez made his move with 12 laps to go. Rossi wasn’t willing to let his rival go and put his head down, but he was unable to stick to the home rider and with five laps to go he put his attention towards his teammate, who pushed him back one place. The Doctor followed the fellow Yamaha rider like a shadow, but was unable to get past and took the chequered flag 5.983s behind the man in first place.

Lorenzo’s superb race craft delivers him 20 points. He remains in third position, now just 14 points behind his teammate in second. Rossi’s third place gives him a total of 196 points, now 52 points behind the championship leader.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP will next head to Japan in three weeks’ time for the Grand Prix of Japan, the first of the three overseas races.

Lorenzo: The crash was good!

“Sometimes a bad situation or a bad thing brings you a good thing and that’s what happened when I crashed. I got almost injured and was almost in pain, as has happened in the past, but this made me do two warming up laps, one with the hard tyre and one on the soft tyre. Finally on these two laps the hard tyre suddenly gave me a good confidence, even if I was warming up and very slow, so my instinct told me that I needed to change my race tyre to the hard one and this crash and bit of instinct for sure gave me the possibility to do this race the way I was riding it. I didn’t expect to finish on the podium, I thought I would finish maybe sixth or seventh, but finally the race was again surprising. It’s been a difficult weekend for me, but sometimes these kind of situations bring you to the top.”

Rossi: In Aragon, we always suffer

“We started with a different setting and we tried to be stronger towards the end of the race, but in the final stages I was spinning a lot, but I think everyone was in the same boat anyway. It’s a shame that with two laps to go I made a mistake in braking and I had to go wide. If not for that we could have fought for the second place, but anyway the podium is OK. I’m happy because it’s a good podium. Here, in Aragón, we always suffer a bit. It’s a shame and I’m not fully happy, because I wanted to arrive as the first of the Yamahas and in front of Lorenzo, but unfortunately in the second half of the race he was faster than me. It’s a shame, because I had some cards up my sleeve for the last laps, because I was there, but I made a mistake. I decided to go straight because else it would have been very dangerous for both of us. I lost the four points to Jorge, but it’s another podium. We hope we can improve and that we can be more competitive for the overseas races.”

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko