Top ten for Aprilia Racing in the Misano sprint race

VIÑALES TENTH, OLIVEIRA ELEVENTH, ESPARGARÓ TWELFTH

Maverick Viñales, after starting from the eighth spot on the grid, lost a couple of positions on the opening turns, finding himself tenth at the end of the first lap. In spite of a good race pace, coming back from the rear proved to be difficult and Maverick was unable to do better than tenth place in the end.  

For Aleix Espargaró, Q2 was just as complicated and he was unable to achieve a proper flying lap which would have allowed him to start from a spot beyond the fourth row on the grid. His start from the eleventh spot further compromised his race as well, despite a consistent pace. Aleix finished the sprint race twelfth, just behind the Team Trackhouse Aprilia ridden by Miguel Oliveira.

MAVERICK VIÑALES
“The thing that penalised me was my starting position. 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.”

ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
“Maverick and I tried completely different configurations on both Friday and Saturday 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.”

ROMANO ALBESIANO
“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. 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.”