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Category: Moto GP
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ALEIX AND MAVERICK UNABLE TO CONFIRM THE OUTSTANDING PACE DEMONSTRATED IN PRACTICE
It would be impossible not to talk about the disappointment in the race today at Phillip Island. Especially in light of what was demonstrated during the practice sessions, where Aleix and Maverick had shown the right feeling, pace, and confidence in race configuration.
The script for the race, on the other hand, took an unexpected turn. Aleix, after starting well from the fourth spot on the grid, began his race aggressively, staying with the leading group with the intention of not forcing the pace during the initial stages. However, there was an abrupt drop in performance that kept Espargaró from fending off the attacks from behind and forcing him to finish ninth.
Maverick, extremely fast in FP4, had to battle with an even clearer drop in grip at the rear which, in fact, brought any ambitions of a good result to an end early on in the race.
It is a situation that demands careful analysis by the team, both to ascertain the causes and to improve the working method.
ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
"In the early part of the race today, everything was going according to plan. I started well overtaking Fabio and managed to stay easily with the leading group. Even when I made a small mistake, I was able to quickly close the gap, even doing the second fastest lap of the race. Then the situation took a strange turn. The electronics began to cut a lot of power and, despite pushing hard to make up ground on the braking sections, I didn’t have the acceleration to stay with the others. It’s a pity. These are mistakes that we can’t make if we want to battle for the championship title, especially because we demonstrated that we have the speed to do so."
MAVERICK VIÑALES
"I don’t understand what happened today, to be honest. We still need to carefully analyse the data, but clearly something didn’t work right. I didn’t even come close to the pace that I had in the FP4 simulations on the same tyres. It’s hard to identify the reason now, so we’ll have to get to work and simply capitalise on this experience to improve."
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THE APRILIA RIDERS WILL START FROM THE SECOND AND FOURTH ROW IN THE PHILLIP ISLAND RACE
It was an intense day at Phillip Island, with riders and teams busy both earning the best possible starting position and preparing for a race that promises to be a rather tactical one. The Aprilia riders achieved both objectives.
Aleix will start from the first spot on the second row of the grid tomorrow and he has good sensations in race configuration. Maverick, the only rider in FP4 to drop below the 1'29 mark, despite a few doubts in terms of rear tyre choice, demonstrated great pace. In qualifying, he didn’t feel the increase in grip with the soft tyre that he needed in order to push to the limit, so he had to settle for a spot on the fourth row. The position doesn’t rule out any results, given the multiple opportunities for overtaking the Australian circuit offers.
ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
"I’m pleased. The RS-GP worked well in all conditions and I’m expecting a fun race. Maverick and I are working extremely well together. The slipstream in qualifying was definitely important. As I said yesterday, I expect this to be a race of management where conserving the tyre will be fundamental. It may seem easy to set a fast pace straight away, but it’s just as easy to lose half a second on the final laps. We’ll see. We’ll try whatever it takes to get the job done and starting from the second row is just fine."
MAVERICK VIÑALES
"In terms of pace, I’m extremely satisfied with the work we’ve done. I had never lapped this fast here at Phillip Island! I’m still undecided on tyre choice because I had good sensations with both the medium and the hard, so we’ll take the final decision after warm-up. It’s a pity about qualifying. I didn’t feel the extra grip with the soft tyre that I needed to be able to push but fortunately on this track there are several places where you can overtake, so I think I’ll be able to ride a good race."
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A brand-new trio of events is a about to get underway for the MotoGP World Championship and Team Gresini is ready for this demanding challenge, which will take the Faenza-based squad first to Alcañiz (Spain), then to Motegi (Giappone) and Buriram (Thailand).
This second half of the season is shaping up to be a tour the force, with Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio ready to test their fitness condition and the set-up solutions found in the recent test at Misano on very different tracks.
The upcoming venues are on paper among the favourable ones for the two Gresini standard bearers, especially by looking back at previous editions. Bastianini stepped onto the Aragón podium five times between 2016 and 2020 (three times in Moto3 and two in Moto2); he also won once in Japan in 2016 (Moto3), while he has an 11th place as best result so far at Buriram.
On the other side of the garage, Di Giannantonio has been on the podium in Spain and Thailand: he was 2ndat Alcañiz in 2017 and on the top step at Buriram one year later. His best finish in Japan so far is a 7th place in 2017.
ENEA BASTIANINI #23 (4º in the championship standings with 138 points)
“It’s going to be a difficult trio, but we’re charged up and we have momentum. I have a great feeling with Aragon and even last year I did well there in my MotoGP debut. Regarding Japan and Thailand, it will all be a discovery with my Ducati, but I believe that right now we can be fast in every condition. The goal is to finish the season the best way possible, and this trio will be key.”
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49 (20º in the championship standings with 23 points)
“This is surely the most challenging moment of the season for many reasons: long travels, time-zone difference, food… we’re coming off a positive test and we will start off with Aragon, which is a track I like a lot and where I hope I can confirm the positive feeling found with the bike. It will be nice to return to Japan and Thailand because we haven’t been there in a while, and I can’t wait. We’re charged up for this trio.”
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#MisanoTest. An important, two-day test has drawn to a close for Team Gresini MotoGP on the track that last weekend hosted the fourteenth round of the World Championship. The Faenza-based squad worked at full capacity with the goal to better prepare for what is going to be a really demanding last stretch of the season.
After being very quick throughout the race weekend, Enea Bastianini kept the momentum going in this last official test of 2022. The Italian, who came extremely close to winning the race on Sunday, has worked on some fine-tuning ahead of the next races with excellent speed and pace (he was fourth quickest). The rider #23 did not have time to test an experimental front tyre brought by Michelin, which could be used next year.
Fabio Di Giannantonio worked on the bike set-up and found a great feeling with his Desmosedici GP21, especially with higher temperatures. With many laps completed and an improved confidence, the #49 was the tenth quickest rider in the test.
ENEA BASTIANINI #23 (1’31.260)
“It was a positive test. We completed a lot of laps, we were quick and we also tried something set-up wise that improved the feeling with the bike. My personal quickest lap was set yesterday after 27 laps with the same tyre, so I feel very positive. We haven’t made huge steps forward, but we were already very so we only had to do some fine tuning. We are leaving Misano with great expectations for the last races of the year.”
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49 (1’31.605)
“This test was a very positive one. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that much because we didn’t have new parts to try, but we tested some different configurations that I liked and I felt very good on the bike. We gathered plenty of data without going for longer runs and we’re happy. It’s true that this track was perfect and we’ll need to test these solutions at other tracks and in different conditions. Now we will rest a bit before the three consecutive rounds waiting for us.”
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ALBESIANO: 'WE CAN'T BE SATISFIED, WE HAVE TO KEEP WORKING'
The main news of the two days of MotoGP testing at Misano is the enormous amount of work carried out by Aprilia. Always among the first to take to the track and the last to close, with practice starts on the main straight, even today. An unmistakable sign of the constant ambition to improve, despite an absolute competitive situation.
A total of 427 laps were clocked over the two days by the RS-GPs of Aleix Espargaró, Maverick Viñales and Lorenzo Savadori, all of whom were involved in both tests related to the current season and in comparisons and simulations that could help the development of the 2023 prototype.
Caught up in a crash at Turn 13, Aleix had to interrupt his test towards the end of today's morning session, having suffered a micro-fracture to the little finger of his left hand that is not cause for concern ahead of Aragón.
ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
"The injury will fortunately only require a little rest. We'll check it tomorrow with more detailed tests but I'm not worried ahead of Aragón. The test overall was positive. We tried some concepts with a view to 2023 but we will have to analyse the data well, because Misano is a track with a lot of grip, especially after a race weekend. So it will be necessary to reconfirm the sensations on other tracks".
MAVERICK VIÑALES
"We have definitely taken a step forward with these tests. I am satisfied with the work Aprilia is doing, both with a view to 2023 and to help me in this season finale. In the second part of the race on Sunday I lost something compared to the best riders and in these two days we have also had the opportunity to analyse that situation and work to improve it."
ROMANO ALBESIANO
"Despite what might come naturally seeing the results of this season, our path to perfect competitiveness is still a long one. We are not satisfied and we won't be until we manage to fill all the gaps in the RS-GP. We are already working on the ideas that will go on to define the 2023 prototype but the analysis process has to be meticulous, the risk of missteps is always just around the corner. There are concepts that seem to work, others that don't clearly improve, so after so many laps we will have to be good at analysing the data collected. We are at a good level of performance, but this does not allow us to slow down development."
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