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september 02, 2022 - Aprilia Racing

Misano MotoGP - Friday


THE APRILIAS SHINE ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE IN MISANO

MAVERICK AND ALEIX, CONSISTENTLY WITH THE LEADERS, BOTH FINISH EASILY IN THE TOP TEN

Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales started the weekend that will culminate in the GP of San Marino e Riviera di Rimini on the right foot. On the Misano circuit, they took spots in the top ten rather easily.

Astride their RS-GP machines, both riders were consistently among the protagonists, from FP1 in the morning where they finished fourth (Aleix) and fifth (Maverick). In the afternoon session, decidedly faster than the first, they held the top positions for a long time, also demonstrating great consistency in terms of fast pace. However, after putting on the tyre for their final, decisive run, only Aleix managed to improve on his time. Traffic on the track kept Maverick from being incisive on his time attack, but the times done were enough to clinch sixth place for Viñales at a time of 1’31.929.

This is an important result, especially considering the weather forecast which calls for a chance of rain during the FP3 practice session on Saturday morning. If this were to happen, the Aprilia Racing riders will already be assured of going straight through to the second qualifying session, which decides the first four rows of the starting grid.

ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
"I’m pleased. I arrived here with a few doubts but I felt good today. Especially if we are talking about consistency, with the medium tyre the pace and sensations were outstanding for this being the first day. I struggled a bit with the soft where I expected to be able to improve my time more. We’ll have to work on this because we know how important qualifying is here in Misano. In the event of rain, grip on the track is good since it was resurfaced a few years ago but I still hope to be able to finish the weekend in the dry!"

MAVERICK VIÑALES
"We did great! I had fun riding and I am extremely pleased with the way we worked today. The pace is already good and we are definitely moving in the right direction. There are obviously still details to work on but the potential is there and we know we can improve, especially on the flying lap. In any case, already being provisionally in Q2 is important just in case it rains tomorrow morning but we know that if it’s dry, times will drop even more and we’ll have to give it our all to stay out front. For the race, starting from the front row will be fundamental and we’ll do our best to be there!"