Espargaro salvages a difficult #ItalianGP weekend with 6th place, Viñales 12th, Savadori 18th

Aleix Espargaró was true to his reputation as a fighter in the Italian GP. Despite his injured foot which plagued him throughout the weekend, and supported well by his RS-GP, he finished sixth at the end of a good race and a fierce battle, rife with overtaking, prevailing over Miller and Bezzecchi on the final laps.

Aleix demonstrated great character and outstanding speed, given the fact that he was the fourth fastest of the riders who finished the race. These are ten points that move Aleix into the top ten of the overall standings, although his top priority at the moment is full physical recovery of his right foot in view of the upcoming two consecutive races in Germany and Holland.

Maverick, on the other hand, was unable to solve the problems that thwarted his performance throughout the weekend. Starting from the twelfth spot on the grid, he finished twelfth, so without managing to improve his overall performance. His low confidence in the tyres, especially the front, and the lack of grip hindered Maverick in the race as well, so much that he only managed to move up to his final placement in the final laps.

In Mugello, Lorenzo Savadori also took to the track with the third RS-GP, managed by the Aprilia Racing Test Team. Lorenzo demonstrated a good pace and only a significant loss of feeling with the front end that began around mid-race kept him from finishing in the points zone.

Aleix Espargaró

Unfortunately, during this weekend we did not have the performance we had expected. My injury is not an excuse. Yesterday and today in the race, it did not limit me, we were quite simply lacking a bit of speed. We need to continue working. The gaps are not too wide to close but a single detail is enough to change the situation.

Maverick Viñales

It has been a difficult weekend and a difficult day. I was never able to find an acceptable level of grip, especially at the front, so much that it was even hard to stay on the bike. In the race, I started losing grip as early as the second lap and I was only able to overtaking in the finale. We will naturally need to analyse the data to figure out why this happened. And we need to keep working to improve.

Lorenzo Savadori

I am satisfied with the work we did this weekend and the pace we demonstrated, even if the results don’t fully render the idea. I was battling in the points zone today. I felt good and fast until around mid-race when I completely lost the feeling with the front end. We’ll investigate what caused it, but unfortunately, when this happens, the only thing you can do is finish the race.