The more than 40°C on the Spanish asphalt had a heavy impact on performance during the Spain GP, a fact that is clear from the numerous crashes despite a less than blinding pace. In these difficult conditions, Aleix Espargaró exploited his experience, riding the number 41 Aprilia RS-GP to a ninth place finish and earning important championship points.

The Spanish rider tackled the early part of the race cautiously, not pushing too hard and aiming for consistent performance. It was a strategy that paid off: twelfth place on the starting grid and fourteenth on the first lap, Aleix maintained nerves of steel and, thanks in part to a few crashes, he earned a well-deserved top-10 finish.

It was a Sunday exam day for Sam Lowes, working hard to manage a situation that was completely new for him and in which it was of primary importance to gain experience. The British rookie's sixteenth place finish kept him out of championship points but it adds an important notch to his belt in terms of MotoGP growth.

Thanks to the placement today, Aprilia moves up a position in the manufacturer standings, now lying in fourth place.


ALEIX ESPARGARO' 

“The race today was one of the most difficult ones of my career. The conditions were truly difficult. It was very easy to crash. After a few laps I even reduced my lean angle. The sliders on my leathers are almost unused and that is something that has never happened for me. I tried to catch up to Folger, but when I saw that the gap was not decreasing I preferred maintaining my position without taking any pointless risks. The result today is important. A top-10 finish after two weekends without any points and in such treacherous conditions is a morale booster. In any case, we need to keep working. Tomorrow we will be on the track again with a lot of things to test in order to grow the RS-GP.”

SAM LOWES 

“This weekend I was able to maintain a good pace during practice, but I was unable to repeat the same performance in the race. I struggled a lot because of the poor grip, both on the rear, where perhaps we made the wrong tyre choice and on the front. Fortunately, we will already be back on the track tomorrow for the tests, where we will try to better understand what happened today.”

ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER 

“In a difficult race characterized by big grip problems, Espargaró put in a solid performance, preferring to bring home a top-10 finish instead of risking too much. Folger could have been within his reach, but in any case we are satisfied that we finished the race after two unlucky weekends. It was a pity about the very early stages of the race that were conditioned by some problems with the gears, costing us valuable seconds, otherwise Aleix would have been able to stay with the group of riders ahead of him. We will pick up from here, aware that we can take advantage of a very important test tomorrow, where we will be developing several areas. Therefore, we are confident in view of the coming races. With Lowes it was maybe too risky a choice for the rear tyre, thinking that it would have paid off in the second part of the race. In reality, Sam struggled with poor grip from the start, something that forced him to ride a race below expectations.”

FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER 

"I am pleased with the result. It was a very hard race. In the early laps, Aleix was definitely conditioned by his spot on the grid, but he did a good job keeping a cool head. His pace was good, as was the bike's performance. I would even say that Aleix's gap was positive, if we don't consider to two Hondas that had an entirely different pace today. Today Sam tackled very difficult conditions for a rookie. He still lacks the experience to manage certain races. I know that he still has a lot to show, but we have the example of many good riders who took time to adapt to the category and that is what Sam needs. We definitely have room to grow. We will be back on the track tomorrow for an important test and to keep growing the RS-GP."