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TWO APRILIAS IN THE TOP TEN ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE IN MISANO

22 October 2021

At the end of a day made difficult by track conditions, two Aprilias place in the top ten.

After fighting to find grip in the two Friday sessions, Aleix Espargaró took home a nice third place (1’42.291) and, not far behind him, wild card Lorenzo Savadori took an outstanding seventh place with a time of 1’42.615. Both had to battle with poor grip on the asphalt that was wet due to the copious rainfall during the morning session, progressively drying out during the afternoon session, but not enough to let them use slicks.

These difficult-to-read conditions hindered Maverick Viñales who, still in the early phases of adapting to the RS-GP and limited in his familiarity with it, paid a higher price than his two teammates for the complicated situation, finishing in twenty-first place with a time of 1’43.679.

ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“When the conditions are difficult like today, being in the top ten is always fundamental. This morning, with an extremely wet track, I didn’t have the best sensations. I was lacking grip. We worked on it and managed to improve in FP2, partly because the track was drying out. I waited until the final minutes to try for a fast lap, knowing that I would find an almost-dry line where the rain tyres heat up quickly and it worked. For tomorrow, our plan will depend heavily on the weather, considering the fact that it will probably be a dry race on Sunday.”

MAVERICK VIÑALES
“Definitely a different day from what I expected. I had hoped to do a bit better, but we also need to consider my lack of experience on the Aprilia in the wet. A positive aspect is that in these conditions, all the reactions are slower and clearer, which makes it even easier for us to see which areas we need to improve in. Right now, I’d say that’s braking. I’ll compare data now with Aleix and Sava who demonstrated a good pace and we’ll try to make a step forward tomorrow.”

LORENZO SAVADORI
“I told my mechanics again today that I could wait to get back to riding a MotoGP bike. I missed it! To be honest, the conditions today helped me. You push less in the wet and the turn angles are reduced, so that’s good for my ankle since I suffer when I have to apply pressure. In any case, I’m pleased with the position. The goal for tomorrow could be to go straight through to Q2. It will be difficult, but we’ll try.”