“Signs of improvement” in “complicated” Misano MotoGP sprint for Aprilia

Aprilia technical director Romano Albesiano says the squad “saw some signs of improvement” despite scoring no points in the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint.

The last few weeks have seen Aprilia’s form drop off a cliff, with the leading RS-GP a distant 10th in the Aragon GP and miles off the front in the San Marino GP in 11th.

The Aprilia has struggled for pace in low and high-grip conditions, though tweaks to improve braking stability at the Misano test appears to have helped the Italian marque at the Emilia Romagna GP weekend.

No Aprilia scored points in Saturday’s sprint, with Maverick Vinales the best of the RS-GPs in 10th. The Spaniard was several seconds closer to the leader than he was in the San Marino GP sprint.

Albesiano believes his factory riders qualifying eighth and 11th contributed to Aprilia not scoring points on Saturday, but feels there has been genuine improvement.

“It was undoubtedly a complicated race, but the positive note is that we saw some signs of improvement on a track that is so difficult for us,” he said.

“The lap times are in line with those in the group just behind the top two.

“We clearly paid the price for our starting position and the initial scrum in the opening turns.

“In any case, we need to keep working to improve on a couple of sectors that we have identified. For the long race, we’ll try to take another step forward.”

Aleix Espargaro, who was 12th behind Trackhouse Racing’s Miguel Oliveira, says he and Vinales used completely different settings throughout practice.

However, they converged on set-up for the sprint as they couldn’t make any significant step towards the leaders in terms of pace.

“Maverick and I tried completely different configurations on both Friday and Saturday,” Espargaro said.

“But for the sprint race we decided to start with similar configurations because we were unable to find anything that allowed us to get close to the top riders.

“Our race pace is not bad at all, but we are still far from the best.”

With the medium rear tyre set to be the preferred option for the grand prix on Sunday, Vinales believes he can have a strong afternoon.

“The thing that penalised me was my starting position,” Vinales noted.

“Being further forward on the grid really makes a difference here in Misano.

“In qualifying, I was unable to make the difference and, unfortunately, this has an impact on the final result.

“For the long race, we need to stay optimistic and keep working. In any case, I have a good feeling with the medium tyre and I think I’ll be able to do a good race.”