Aprilia Racing leads on Friday in Montmeló

FIRST PLACE AND LAP RECORD FOR ESPARGARÓ IN PRACTICE, VIÑALES TENTH

On the first day of practice on the Montmeló Circuit, Aleix Espargaró confirmed the great feeling he has with his home track. Aleix finished FP1 fifth, just four tenths behind the rider who led in the standings. In the Practice session, the Spanish rider further improved his performance, putting the best time of the session and the lap record on the boards at 1'38.562.

It was an intense day for Maverick Viñales, who finished free practice eleventh. During the Practice session, he lapped at a good pace, but he was unable to make the difference in his time attacks. Despite this, the Spaniard managed to go straight through to Q2 with the tenth-best time of the session.    

ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
“The weekend started well and I’m quite satisfied. The bike is working well. We knew that Barcelona would be a good circuit for the RS-GP24. As I crossed the finish line, I thought, ‘I’ll miss this feeling, this bike, and my team.’ The track doesn’t have much grip and it’s tough to figure out the right spot to accelerate, but I had fun in spite of that. This will be my last race weekend here in Barcelona, so I’m just thinking about having fun.”

MAVERICK VIÑALES
“Being in Q1 is extremely important. The sensations were not the best during the two sessions; I expected more. I also felt a huge lack of grip on the track. In terms of race pace, however, we are not far off.”

PAOLO BONORA
“I wish to thank Aleix for everything he has given us. Even today, he demonstrated that he is in grand form. He managed to do an outstanding time and he showed excellent race pace. The key will undoubtedly be tyre management. Unfortunately, Maverick was unable to make it happen on his flying lap, but is pace is still good.”