Aprilia Racing close to the podium in Montmeló sprint race

ALEIX ESPARGARÓ FINISHES FOURTH, MAVERICK VIÑALES TWELFTH

Aleix Espargaró demonstrated outstanding form on Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, taking second place in Q2 and just missing pole position by only 55 thousandths of a second. This is the Granollers natives fourth front row start of the season after Qatar, Catalunya, and Silverstone. In the sprint race, Aleix had a less than perfect start, finishing the first lap in eighth place. With great determination, he launched an intense comeback, joining in the battle for the bottom step of the podium just a few laps later. Espargaró finished fourth, also doing the second-fastest lap of the race – a significant result for his final sprint race in MotoGP with Aprilia Racing ahead of his retirement.

Maverick Viñales kicked off his Saturday with an outstanding performance in FP2, finishing at the top of the standings. Nevertheless, he was unable to replicate the same performance in Q2, finishing seventh and just three tenths behind pole position. His sprint race was conditioned by an imperfect start which penalised the early stages of the race for him. Despite the difficulties, Maverick recovered a few positions, finishing the sprint race twelfth.

ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
“I am satisfied because I was much faster than I expected to be. It’s a shame about the start, though. I lost several positions on the first turn, but I was still able to come back and maintain an outstanding pace. I’m pleased with the speed I demonstrated and with how competitive I was. I think that I’ll be able to stay out front in the long race as well.”

MAVERICK VIÑALES
“The start was complicated, and when you lose a lot of positions it makes coming back difficult. Our tyre choice worked rather well and I was able to manage them despite battling throughout the entire race. In fact, the key for the long race will be tyre choice. We need to ride an intelligent race and try to conserve them because the second part of the race on this circuit is entirely different from the first.”

ROMANO ALBESIANO
“Returning to a track where we raced in May was rather interesting, because it gave us the chance to verify whether our package is competitive. After a few less positive races, this is important confirmation for us. Aleix had an outstanding performance. It’s a pity about the start because the podium was well within his potential. Unfortunately, the start is an aspect that we still need to perfect. Maverick’s potential did not fully come out due to various circumstances, but we are convinced that both riders will be able to have an outstanding long race tomorrow.”