7th place finish for Maverick Viñales in #ArgentinaGP Sprint, DNF for Aleix Espargaro

Aprilia Racing’s Saturday in Argentina did not have the same outcome as the first day of practice. Doing better than first and second in the standings, achieved by Aleix and Maverick on Friday, was impossible as the rain compromised any ambitions of replicating that performance.

The qualifiers on a wet track gave Maverick the fifth spot on the starting grid and Aleix was all the way back in ninth, both hindered on the final time attack with a rain tyre as the track was drying out.

Starting from these positions in the second Sprint race of the season, they remained consistently in the fight along with all the others in the leading pack which included the riders from first to ninth position. Maverick lost half of his front winglet straight away as a result of contact and had to ride almost the entire race in those conditions, especially compromising his braking. In spite of this, he finished seventh, two point six seconds behind the winner. Aleix battled in the same group, but crashed out four laps from the end, without any physical consequences.

MAVERICK

We have the speed and we have the bike, we just need to keep working. I had a lot of contact with other riders in the race, one of which made me lose a piece of front winglet too. I didn’t notice it straight away, but it was clear that I was no longer able to stop the bike well like I had been doing on Friday, so it is still a good result just to have finished with the leaders. The only solution in the Sprint is to start from the front. A first-row start would have allowed me to exploit my pace. Tomorrow will undoubtedly be a very different race. We have the potential to do better than we did today.

ALEIX

We encountered a situation similar to what happened in Portugal. This morning in qualifying I did not do a good time when the track began drying out, and in the race, despite being fast, I was unable to make good progress. When I found myself behind Bagnaia, I tried to push a bit harder to close the gap and I crashed. Unfortunately, that’s the way the Sprint race is – there is no time to manage your pace. But I feel ready for tomorrow’s 25 laps.