Aleix Espargaró qualified 11th at the MotoGP Aragon GP, only to retire from the Sprint race on the first lap. His Aprilia teammate, Maverick Viñales, finished the race but only managed 19th place.
In contrast, Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing) had a strong performance on Saturday. He was consistently the best Aprilia rider on the track throughout the day, finishing in fifth place after qualifying seventh.
This stark contrast between riders on the same bike suggests that the data from the Portuguese man could be valuable in preparing for the main race. However, Espargaró pointed out that even though Oliveira had a solid race, his bike wasn’t competitive compared to the frontrunners, as he finished 11.749s behind the winner, Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati):
– I think we can try to learn from him, but he lost 15 seconds. He did a good start, he did a good race, a solid race, but I think the delta with the winner… For me, if you finish on the podium is fantastic, but if you don’t finish on the podium, for me being fourth or seventh the important thing is try to be close to the winner. When you finish a Sprint race at more than one second per lap is not great.