These just in from the dust:1043 days later: Marc Marquez roars back to glory, drama hits for Bagnaia

The #93 completes a history-making weekend at MotorLand as Martin's lead increases following a clash between Alex Marquez and Bagnaia

Sunday, 01 September 2024

1043 days, multiple surgeries, a change of team and factory later, and Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) is back on the top step of the Grand Prix podium. The #93 dominated the majority of the Gran Premio GoPro de Aragon including a stunning first Tissot Sprint win, but being the fastest isn’t a guarantee of glory. Come Sunday, however, Marquez shot off the line for the holeshot and never looked back, underlining one of the greatest comebacks in MotoGP™ history.

There was plenty to talk about in his wake too, with Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) taking second and extending his title lead – gained back from Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) on Saturday – after Bagnaia’s podium charge came to a halt in a clash with Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™). The verdict from the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards: racing incident and no further action. The verdict from each rider wildly opposes both that and each other.

Meanwhile, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) took the final spot on the podium, back on the GP box for the first time since the Americas GP in April and adding to an impressive point tally for the rookie, who currently sits fifth in the World Championship standings.

As the lights went out, Marc Marquez took the holeshot once again, and there was drama for Bagnaia once again as the #1 struggled off the line and got close to Alex Marquez in a near-repeat of the Sprint start. Acosta moved up into second and Martin took over in third, with Bagnaia left with work to do down in P7.

The #89 attempted a move at Turn 8 on Lap 2, running wide and allowing Acosta back through before making an overtake stick at Turn 13. Acosta then began to drop back, with Alex Marquez now entering the podium positions.

Bagnaia began to recover positions, overtaking Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) for sixth position. The Italian set his sights on Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing), aiming to re-enter the top five, and not long after Morbidelli then ran wide, dropping to eighth and allowing the #1 through.

After an early crash for Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ Team) then joined him as a DNF, unable to secure a double top 10 finish in Aragon after a crash at Turn 5. Further back, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) was battling for the final places inside the top 10 with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

Back at the front, Marc Marquez extended his lead to over three seconds, with the #89 remaining as his closest rival. Martin, however, still held that crucial ground on Bagnaia as the #1 was up into P4 after a spectacular overtake on Acosta at the end of Lap 11. Next target: Alex Marquez.

By Lap 19, Bagnaia was tagged right onto the back of the #73, and as the Gresini ran wide on the entry to Turn 12, the door seemed open. Bagnaia went for it, meanwhile Alex Marquez tried to keep it. The result was contact between the two as they slid off in a tangle to forfeit the podium, riders ok and Martin’s points advantage suddenly bolstered to 23 points by the flag.

Up ahead though, Marc Marquez suffered no such dramas. Extending his margin to five seconds, the #93 kept it calm at the head of the field to take that coveted first victory since 2021, his first with Ducati and Gresini, 1043 days – and so much more – later.

Behind Martin and Acosta, who swept past the Bagnaia-Alex Marquez drama to complete the podium, was a strong P4 for Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Bastianini, after a somewhat disastrous grid position as he lost out on Q2, put in a classic comeback to round out the top five. Morbidelli claimed sixth after a solid weekend, ahead of Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team’s Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, who crossed the line in that order but then got switched after a Tyre Pressure Penalty for Diggia. Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) took P9, ahead of the final place in the top ten for Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) after a tyre pressure penalty for Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) dropped the Aussie out the top ten.

Make sure you join us next week when the world’s most exciting sport returns for the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. Enemy territory for the Championship leader and the most recent winner. Home turf for the reigning Champion. See you in Misano?MotorLand continued to be a hot party for the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 on Sunday, with Pedro Acosta from Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 finishing on the third step of the podium at the Gran Premio GoPro de Aragón, his first Sunday podium since the Americas Grand Prix, making it his third podium in the premier class. Augusto Fernandez finished in the points with a hard-fought 12th place on home Grand Prix.

In Austin earlier this year, rookie Pedro Acosta had finished on the podium after starting second on the grid. Well, he did it again on Sunday afternoon, as he completed the top 3 of an exciting race that saw Marc Marquez win a Grand Prix for the first time in 1043 days. As lights went out for 23 laps of madness, Acosta kept his grid position this time behind Marc Marquez, followed close by Jorge Martin and Alex Marquez in a similar scenario than yesterday. Small scare shortly after as the rookie tried to defend his position to a charging Martin, and both went wide, allowing yesterday’s sprint winner Marquez to escape 1.8 seconds away in less than two laps. The 2023 runner-up continued with the pressure to eventually pass Acosta in the final sector of lap 2, and we had a Martin-Acosta-Alex Marquez trio wheel to wheel. Martin escaped ahead, leaving Acosta with the Alex Marquez’ threat close. Eventually, the #73 benefited from the slipstream in the straight line to move past the rookie in turn one of the third lap, with Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia and Brad Binder making the effort to close the gap. While he was in P4, the medium-medium tyre choice started to play its trick with Acosta’s lap times going down after five laps in the low 1’49. That allowed the shark to breath while the battle for 5th behind him was an intense one. After ten laps, the order of that trio changed, with world champion Bagnaia now back just half a second away, lapping strong in the high 1’48. Soon the #1 was able to pass by the #31, as Acosta’s late braking in T16 had him go wide, allowing Bagnaia to move past to go chase Alex Marquez, while big brother Marc Marquez was nowhere to be seen at the front. Twelve laps to go. Acosta was in 5th with a chasing Binder eager to overtake his future teammate. The goal at that time was trying to manage the tyres as the grip was extremely low, but that was without the crazy incident between Bagnaia and Alex Marquez in lap 17, one that saw Pedro provisionally stand in third! The rookie had six laps left to defend his 1.3 seconds gap to Binder, which he brilliantly did! Acosta wrapped up a perfect Aragón Grand Prix weekend, with a front row start, a bronze medal in the sprint, and a third place on Sunday. Congratulations to the whole team!

Starting from P19 on the grid, Augusto Fernandez had his positive race pace from the sprint in mind, and was eager for more on the long distance. The Spaniard gained two positions in one lap as he settled behind Aleix Espargaro. He rode his fastest race lap on lap 5 in 1’49.723, a pace that allowed him to breathe more with Joan Mir a bit more than one second behind. Feeling good, the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider tried to close the gap to Espargaro. A few laps later, we had a Fernandez in the wheel of a Fernandez as Augusto closed on Raul. A small mistake from the Trackhouse rider saw Augusto move up to 14h, but Alex Rins had caught him back and passed by. With the Bagnaia-Marquez crash ahead, Augusto was back in the point-scoring positions. On lap 18 and 19, the #37 lost a bit of rhythm, which allowed Johann Zarco to catch him back, but Fernandez defended his ground pretty well to remain in 13th, until the checkered flag. With Jack Miller being handed a 16 second-penalty after the race, Augusto finished 12th of the Gran Premio GoPro de Aragón.

Great weekend overall for the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 MotoGP™ squad, and we will look to use the positives from this weekend to perform well next week at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, on September 6-7-8.

Pedro Acosta

Position: 3rd

Championship: 5th

Points: 148

"Tough race, managing the drop of the rear tyre and the track conditions was not easy at all, but we did our best to stay at the front, to maintain our pace, even if the guys ahead had already made a huge gap. Normally we finish 5th today without the Bagnaia-Marquez crash, so I am really happy with our weekend, because it is the first time that we have been competitive for a couple of rounds. We are heading to Misano feeling positive, and I look forward to continuing in that way next week."

Auggie Fernandez

Position: 12th

Championship: 17th

Points: 20

"We are still far in terms of final positions and gap to the race winner, but I am happy with the pace we showed today, especially towards the end as I was able to ride in 1'49, which is not bad. The start was not as good as yesterday, so I had to work hard to recover some positions, and I made some mistakes, lost some time. I look forward to continuing the work in Misano next week already."Fifth place for Bastianini and the Ducati Lenovo Team in MotorLand Aragón’s Sunday race. Unfortunate crash in the closing stages for Bagnaia


Marc Marquez does the double aboard his Team Gresini MotoGP Ducati machine by winning the race. Jorge Martín (Pramac Racing Team) is again second

The twelfth Grand Prix of the 2024 season has drawn to a close for the Ducati Lenovo Team, with Enea Bastianini who put together a good comeback to fifth place at the MotorLand Aragón Circuit. Francesco Bagnaia was the unfortunate protagonist of a crash triggered by a coming together with Alex Márquez in the closing stages of the encounter, while battling for third.

From fourteenth place on the grid, Bastianini moved up to tenth place in the opening laps as he found himself in a group battling for eighth place. Due to the not-ideal conditions of the track, not as clean outside of the racing line, the Ducati Lenovo Team rider did not manage to get the better of his opponents at the beginning. In the second half of the race, however, Enea got up to speed aboard his Ducati machine #23 as he made up several position, the last of which on Morbidelli with five laps to go, before crossing the line in fifth place.

Bagnaia once again had a difficult time at the start – from third place – with some clear spinning of his rear wheel (on dirty asphalt) that cost him several positions. Pecco did a great job in addressing the lack of grip with the front tyre and as the race progressed, he made his way back to fourth place. With six laps left, the reigning world champion tried to take advantage of a mistake by Alex Márquez at turn 12. Unfortunately, a coming together led to a severe crash for both riders, from which Pecco escaped with a few bruises but luckily without any fracture.
At the end of the twelfth Grand Prix of the season, Bagnaia is now second in the championship standings with 276 points and 23 points shy of Martín. Bastianini drops down to fourth place, 71 points in arrears of the leader. Ducati leads the manufacturers’ championship with 426 points, with the Ducati Lenovo Team still leading the team standings (504 points).

The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action this Friday at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ for the thirteenth Grand Prix of 2024.

Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 5th
“I’m not happy because it was a very difficult race, maybe the toughest of the season and surely the opening day had a significant impact on my chances to do well. I had the speed, but it was hard to put all the pieces together: I tried to overtake on many occasions, but often enough things didn’t go according to plan, as I ended up going wide and making mistakes. The track was really dirty outside the racing line and that made everything a lot more difficult. It’s really a shame, because I think we could have got more out of this weekend, but we must be content with this fifth place.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – DNF
“I took advantage of Alex going wide to get ahead of him and also dove into the next corner with a slightly wider line knowing there was another rider; therefore, it’s a shame that it ended up this way as it had already been a difficult weekend. After another complicated start – due to the tricky conditions of that spot on the grid – I was putting together a good comeback, and I was a lot quicker. Right now, I’m quite in pain, especially in my left shoulder, but it looks like there’s nothing broken. We’ll do our best to be as fit as possible at Misano.”Strong 4th place performance from Binder as MotoGP™ moves MotorLand
MotoGP 2024 - Round 12 of 20, MotorLand Aragon – Race

The MotorLand circuit was a tricky stage for the Grand Prix of Aragon as thunderstorms created a wet and cool climate for the start of race day in Spain but sunshine soon dried the asphalt. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing slithered through the varying levels of grip to score 4th thanks to Brad Binder and the KTM RC16 as Jack Miller used his sensitive feel around the asphalt to take a top ten classification (later altered to 15th for a tire pressure infringement). Red Bull KTM Ajo celebrated milestones in both Moto3™ and Moto2™ as Jose Antonio Rueda won for the first time and Deniz Öncü grabbed his first intermediate class podium trophy.



13 world championship points for Brad Binder who follows up his 6th from the Saturday Sprint with a run to the top four at a slick Aragon Grand Prix
15th for Jack Miller who tries to maximize his traction potential but ultimately crosses the finish line to bank one point. Jack was 10th on track but had his result altered post-race
Moto3™ plaudits for Jose Antonio Rueda with a fantastic first victory with the KTM RC4 while Deniz Öncü earns Moto2™ distinction for Red Bull KTM Ajo with his maiden podium result in P3


MotorLand Aragon continued to throw curveballs at the MotoGP field for a challenging twelfth round of the season. After hot and slick conditions on Saturday (due to Friday night rain) a thundery and stormy climate create wet and unpredictable grip on Sunday morning. Brad Binder and Jack Miller were able to use the brief 10-minute warm-up session to try settings for the damp (and Miller was 2nd fastest) but by the time Moto3 and Moto2 had warmed-up the crowd the track had dried and provided a narrow, clean principal racing line.

Binder had some wheelspin from 7th and a greasy section of the grid, and Miller worked to get the best jump from 15th place. Brad made some moves and ended up behind Pecco Bagnaia and then Pedro Acosta. A collision between two riders ahead allowed the Spaniard and the South African to rise two spots in the ranking with five laps remaining and Binder nursed his tires to the flag. Miler established a rhythm a little further back in the top ten and was unlucky to lose 9th place on the last lap. Jack’s traction had evaporated entering the back straight and he was demoted to 10th by just half a second. After the race his tire pressure was found to be over the permitted limit and he was demoted to 15th.


The flat Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli will host the next two rounds of 2024 MotoGP. The Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini stages the thirteenth fixture next weekend and is immediately followed by the last one-day IRTA test of the season.

Brad Binder, 4th: “A really tricky race. I needed a good start but I spun off the line again and all the way to Turn 1. I managed to pick my way through and pass a few guys. It was difficult not to make mistakes because the front tire was cooking until the end of the race. I tried my best to get Pedro but there was nothing left from the rear! We tried something different with the balance of the bike this weekend and it seemed to work over the distance. I think we have made a small step and we’ll try again next week.”

Jack Miller, 15th: “Long old race. Different track conditions again and I tried my best. Hard to handle the rear tire but I got into my rhythm. There were quite a few limitations but I was able to bring it home. A decent weekend because we showed signs of pace throughout. No mistakes in the race but I struggled to go with the boys in front of me. We’ll keep plugging away. I felt we could have had a bit more today: I just got nipped by Rins on the back straight and I was doing all I could to hold onto 9th! But I didn’t get the drive and it wasn’t to be. We’ll come back again in Misano.”

Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Difficult weekend but in the end we’re pretty happy with a solid result and Jack also making the top ten on track. It was tricky because there were always different conditions or circumstances but we were able to manage it. Steady results and we now go to Misano also looking to the test afterwards and Pol’s [Espargaro] wildcard which will give us some help for the future.”
Mir returns to the points as Marini makes the most of Sunday

The Repsol Honda Team walk away from the Aragon GP with small rewards for a long weekend of intense work, Joan Mir crossing the line in 15th while Luca Marini salvages 17th.

Track conditions were the talk of the paddock once again on Sunday in Aragon. A wet morning Warm Up due to overnight rains introduced an extra element of unpredictability into the MotoGP race-day mix. Luca Marini shone in the conditions, ending seventh with teammate Joan Mir in 16th. As the sun roared in the sky, it was clear the race would be dry.

Starting the race just behind his Repsol Honda Team teammate, Joan Mir was immediately on the move as the lights went out on the 23-lap race. Working hard to stay with the group, the race would be one largely of self-focus for Mir as he worked to extract the maximum possible information from the weekend. Incidents further ahead would see the 2020 MotoGP World Champion moved up into the points and cross the line in 15th.

From 20th on the grid, Luca Marini was eager to make the most of the ever-improving conditions. Compromised with an issue on the line, Marini would start the race already out of contention for points. Despite this, the Italian diligently kept his head down and went to work lap after lap – running his own race where more data was the focus. Lapping steadily in the 1’50s, his pace showed he had the speed to battle with his teammate in the group fighting for points. The Italian is hoping for a home boost from local fans at the next race to break his run of bad luck.

A highlight of Sunday for the entire MotoGP paddock was seeing 1999 500cc World Champion Alex Criville reunited with his title-winning Honda NSR500 for a lap of honour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Spain’s first Premier Class World Champion.

There isn’t long to wait for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship as the Repsol Honda Team pack up and immediately head to Misano for Round 13 – the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. A key one-day test will follow the race, Honda HRC primed to take full advantage of the extra day of running before the championship begins its end of year sprint.

Joan Mir
15th

“Today in the race we tried something really, really different on the bike to try and fix some issues we have been having. The sort of change that you can’t normally make during a weekend. It was not the direction to follow, but it has helped us to understand a lot of things. It’s something really good that we were able to try and the information we have will help in the long term. I am struggling mostly on corner entry where I was strong before so this is one thing to work on as well.”


Luca Marini
17th

“The start of the race today is something we need to investigate because obviously it meant we were out of contention, I had to come back into the pit lane. It’s a pity because we are really getting closer and closer, making progress every session but we are not making the most of opportunities – we had the chance to score good points today with what happened ahead. My laps were similar to the other Honda riders which shows we could have been there without the start. Now we go to Misano which is a completely different track.”Trackhouse Racing – good Friday, solid Saturday, tough Sunday at Motorland

2024 GRAND PRIX OF ARAGON – Round 12 of the MotoGP World Championship

Warm Up and Grand Prix Race Report

Motorland, Aragon, Spain: Track length: 3.15 miles / 5.08 kilometers



Warm Up: 9.35am – 9.50am – Wet track

Air Temperature: 68°F / 20°C

Track Temperature: 73.4°F / 23°C



#88 Miguel Oliveira

P9 – Best Lap: 2’04.184 – Lap 5 of 5

Top speed: 204.62 mph / 329.3 km/h



#25 Raul Fernandez

P17 – Best Lap: 2’04.979 – Lap 5 of 5

Top speed: 202.75 mph / 326.3 km/h

RACE: 2pm – Dry track: 23 Laps – 72.56 miles / 116.77 kilometers

Air Temperature: 77°F / 25°C

Track Temperature: 102.2°F / 39°C



#25 Raul Fernandez – P16 (Race Points: 0 Championship Standing: 16th Total Points: 46)

Race Time: 42’44.404 Best Lap: 1’50.115 – Lap 12 of 23

Average speed: 101.84 mph 163.9 Km/h Top speed: 213.07 mph / 342.9 km/h



Starting from 9th on the grid for the Grand Prix of Aragon, in front of over 55,000 race day fans, Trackhouse rider #25 Raul Fernandez was looking for answers to the weekend challenges with grip and feel on his Aprilia RS-GP24. After Saturday’s Qualifying and Sprint race, tire selection dictated that Michelin’s medium compound rubber was the choice on both front and rear of the bike. Lining up on the inside position of the third row and next to his teammate, Miguel Oliveira, Raul struggled from the off, dropping back to 12th place by the end of the first lap. Running for much of the early part of the race in free air, with a gap to the group ahead, Raul’s pace could not keep him in touch and as the 23-lap race progressed, he steadily slipped down the order as he searched for traction. Finally, coming home in 16thposition, with a post-race penalty of 16 seconds added to his race time for a tire pressure infringement, means Raul and Trackhouse Racing leave Aragon with work to do ahead of the next round in just one week, at Misano, for the San Marino Grand Prix.



#88 Miguel Oliveira – Did Not Finish – Crashed out on Lap 1 (Race Points: 0 Championship Standing: 13th Total Points: 60)



#88 Miguel Oliveira, lined up in 9th spot on the grid for the Grand Prix of Aragon, looking to replicate his strong 5th place result in Saturday’s Sprint. Like his Trackhouse teammate, Raul Fernandez, Miguel went with medium compound tires, front and rear, on his Aprilia RS-GP24 with the aim of managing the grip levels through the 23-lap race. Making ground away from lights out, he was up to 6th place early in Lap 1 but went down into turn 16, at the end of the backstretch, bringing his race to a premature end and finishing the trip to Aragon on a frustrating note after a promising Friday and solid points scoring Saturday. Fortunately, no injuries and so onto Misano, Italy, for the San Marino Grand Prix in one week.


WEEKEND SUMMARY:

Trackhouse Racing arrived in Aragon with some firsts to chalk off the season list – debut visit to Motorland for America’s new MotoGP team and the first time that both rider’s, #88 Miguel Oliveira and #25 Raul Fernandez, had ridden the circuit on their Aprilia bikes. For all the teams in the World Championship, a new and substantially different asphalt surface from previous years, meant there was a learning curve to negotiate for the weekend. Added to the challenge to find a good setting for both riders on their Trackhouse RS-GP24’s, changeable weather with warm temperatures and humidity hindered progress with finding grip around the 3.15 mile (5.08 kilometer) counter-clockwise layout. However, both Miguel and Raul produced good pace in Practice, on Friday afternoon, to pre-qualify direct into Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session and therefore by-passing the need to run the gauntlet of Q1. That set the opportunity for points in both the Sprint and Race with Miguel qualified in 8th place and Raul next to him in 9th.

The short, 11 lap, Sprint resulted in mixed fortunes – Miguel with a good run to 5th place while, for Raul, lack of grip meant a frustrating Saturday afternoon out of points in 11th place.

Sunday dawned wet, negating any meaningful progress with set-up in the morning Warm Up but conditions were dry come time for the main, 23 lap, Grand Prix. It proved to be a disappointing day, however, with Miguel out of the race at the end of Lap 1 and Raul slipping down the order, suffering from a lack of grip and unable to maintain a competitive pace. Having run for much of the latter part of the race in clean air, with no one close in front, Raul was awarded a post-race penalty for low tire pressure, to add to a tough day. No points from Aragon is a frustrating way to travel on to Italy but the team will re-group and aim for better on the Adriatic coast.


Trackhouse Racing – Team World Championship Standing: 8th – 106 points

Next Round: Grand Prix of San Marino – Misano World Circuit: September 6. 7, 8

RAUL FERNANDEZ

“Today was super difficult! I don’t really understand what happened. Yesterday, I had three laps with more or less good grip and then I had a lot of graining on the tires. But today, I had nothing. I didn’t have any grip, I felt like I was riding on ice all race long and so I made a lot of mistakes. One rider pushed me off the track when I was fighting to be the first Aprilia but, really, we just didn’t have the pace today. Aleix (Espargaro) was the best Aprilia, he did a 1:49.9 and we did a 1:50.0 but, saying that, we just didn’t have more. Next week we have another race and at the moment I think we have to understand the situation with traction and to find a solution for the future. In Misano, we normally have a lot of grip in all conditions which should be fine for us to get the tires working. To think about Misano now is not priority for me right now - in my opinion, it’s more important to find a solution for the future if conditions are like this and at least, having a plan to work through some different options with the bike. I think today was one of the most difficult races of my life because you go in with certain expectations and I didn’t even have one rider behind me in the end. The only positive out of that is that we all seem to face the same issues in Aprilia, we are four riders, giving four times the feedback and we can work united to find a direction.”Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins showed his fighting spirit at the MotorLand Aragón today, riding from P21 to P9. The Gran Premio de Aragón was a Race to forget for Fabio Quartararo. A crash in Turn 5 ended his chances to fight for championship points.
Rins started from P21, and after the opening stages he was in 19th place, shadowing Joan Mir around the Aragon track to overtake him on lap 5. With his teammate crashing out on lap 6, the Spaniard was circulating in 17th place and chasing down three riders fighting for 14th position. The Yamaha man overtook them successively: Johann Zarco on lap 8, Raul Fernandez on lap 9, and Augusto Fernandez on lap 10.

Rins had manoeuvred himself into 14th place by then and upped the pace. He only needed a few laps to shake off the riders behind him whilst chipping away at the 2.2s gap to the two riders ahead. By lap 15, he started threatening Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami, plotting his strategy. Meanwhile, Alex Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia collided with 6 laps to go. Rins was now in 12th place and made light work of overtaking Espargaro and Nakagami on lap 20 and 21 to enter the top 10. With 2 laps to go, the number-42 rider fancied his chances and chased down Jack Miller, who he overtook in the last sector of the last lap to take a brilliant ninth place, 39.420s from first.

Quartararo had hoped to replicate his Sprint start, but this time there was no way through from P17. Nevertheless, he was able to muscle his way up to 13th place on the first lap. On lap 4, he overtook Raul Fernandez and was keen to close the gap to the riders in front of him, but a crash in Turn 5 on lap 6 ended his challenge.

Today's results see Quartararo in 15th place in the overall standings with 51 points. Rins climbs to 20th position with 15 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP keep their 9th place in the team championship with 66 points, and Yamaha hold on to 4th position in the constructor's championship with 62 points.

MotoGP will be back in action at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Misano, Italy, next week for the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.

MASSIMO MEREGALLI
Team Director

Another mixed day for us. Let's start with the positives. Álex has been working so hard despite the setbacks he faced this season concerning injuries. Today he is enjoying some well deserved progress, and now we aim to continue this trend. Considering Álex' starting position, he made up a lot of places. Fabio crashed out today, but thankfully he is perfectly OK. It's just a shame because he was catching up to the riders ahead, so we think he could have gotten a good result again. But that's racing. Luckily we have a do-over next week at the San Marino GP.

ÁLEX RINS
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider


Today, it was a crazy Race. Starting from P21, it was not easy! Yesterday, I finished the Sprint race with some frustration. The conditions were really tough yesterday, and I was hoping that during the night it wouldn't rain, but finally it did... But I'm happy because I was still able to succeed. I was able to reset, and I rode the bike quite well today. I felt like the old days: controlling the throttle and managing the tyres. The level of grip was very low again, but this is a great result for me and for the team. It's a small boost to continue working.

FABIO QUARTARARO
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider

I was trying to catch up with the riders ahead of me, tried to go a little bit faster, and then I just lost the front. I tried to find the limit, and I found it pretty quickly. The grip for us was really low this weekend, and today it was less than yesterday. Physically, I'm perfectly OK, though! It's just the way it is. Hopefully, in Misano the feeling is better.
It was a difficult race for Aprilia Racing in Aragón. After a rather bland sprint race, Aleix and Maverick were unable to improve on their performance in the long race due to a lack of grip that made things extremely difficult for the riders.
Aleix Espargaró had a difficult start, finding himself in sixteenth place at the end of the first lap. Despite the enormous lack of grip, the Spanish rider attempted a comeback ride, finishing the race tenth.

The race wasn’t easy for Maverick Viñales either. After a complicated start which relegated him to the back of the group, the Spanish rider also encountered a significant lack of grip which forced him to retire during the eleventh lap.

Espargaro


We were unable to get the tyres working. It was a difficult race. I focused more on how to avoid crashing than on performance. It was even difficult to get my knee on the ground. I couldn’t even lean into turns with the bike. It was a strange and new situation for us which is hard to accept. We need to figure out what happened.

Vinales


We had difficulty getting the tyres to work. It seemed like I was going to crash on every turn, especially with the rear tyre. It was a complicated weekend for Aprilia and for me, because after the good performance on Friday, things just stopped working.

Rivola

A horrible weekend. Friday we were fast with minimal grip, but then we lost our way, ending up about four seconds slower than our best times. This bad performance must motivate us to continue our analysis and development work in view of the upcoming races, starting from Misano.