TWO APRILIAS IN THE TOP TEN AT ARAGÓN
A light and spiteful rain fell just a few moments before the start of the two Friday practice sessions at Aragón. The Spanish track was not soaked, but the asphalt got wet, making it impossible to use dry tyres and settings. In these unpredictable and treacherous conditions, the Aprilia riders stood out, both finishing in the top ten in the combined standings of the two sessions.
Sam Lowes finished with a nice seventh place at 2’00.585, confirming his skills in these conditions. Aleix Espargaró in FP2 turned fewer laps than his teammate (seven compared to eleven) and finished ninth with a time of 2’01.015.
The overall performance was good for the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini which, along with the positive sensations after the tests held in Valencia at the beginning of the week, is having a good start to the Aragón weekend.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“I like this track a lot and it is a good fit for the qualities of the RS-GP, so it was a pity not to be able to take full advantage of this first day. With the wet tyre, but not much water on the track, the conditions were less than ideal but we were able to be rather competitive. Tomorrow will be complicated. We will not have much time to test the tyres for the race where it will be crucial to make a good choice, since the forecast is calling for very high temperatures.”
SAM LOWES
“I think the Valencia test helped us. We were able to use a few solutions, especially in terms of electronics strategies. In these particular conditions today, I was fast without making any mistakes. It’s nice to be able to show my potential, although I would prefer to do so on a dry track. Tomorrow in FP3, there will be a lot of riders pushing to go straight through to Q2 and I wouldn’t mind that result, but I will be focusing on preparing for the race. This will be my first time here at Aragón on the MotoGP bike and I really like this track, so working with Sunday in mind is the most important thing.”
