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Alvaro Bautista’s tenth place and Stefan Bradl’s twelfth in the race demonstrate the progress that the Aprilia RS-GP machines showed throughout the weekend. The many changes tested in recent weeks and brought to the race at Misano gave the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders a positive approach from the very first sessions. Bautista going through to Q2 – the first time for the fledgling RS-GP – and Bradl’s excellent fifth row spot on the grid were the prelude to an extremely solid race for the two.

Alvaro started well from the fourth row, but contact with another rider in the second lap cost him a few positions, precluding any chance of an even better final result. After closing the gap behind the rider ahead of him, he battled with teammate Stefan and Petrucci to then pull away with a consistent pace that allowed him to easily defend a significant tenth place finish. Bradl also rode a very solid race, finishing twelfth.

Alvaro Bautista: I was able to pull away after I passed them

“I am happy because we rode a good race and had a good weekend. We knew that, despite going through to Q2, it would be a hard battle to get into the top ten and that is our goal. I started well, but in the second lap I lost a few positions because of contact with another rider, so I had to push hard to come back. Then, in the first laps, I had a strange feeling with the rear tyre. We don’t know why, but the bike slid around a lot. Then the situation went back to normal and I was able to maintain a good pace. I battled with Stefan and Petrucci, but once I overtook them I was able to pull away without any problems and I held my pace until the end. This was a decidedly positive weekend. We did a lot of good work finding new solutions for the bike and we improved, so I would like to thank Aprilia and the entire team for that. Now we want to continue moving in this direction to improve even more in the next portion of the season”.

Stefan Bradl: The result is not bad

“The weekend had started off well, but then a few problems kept me from using the evolution frame consistently. So for the race it was hard to choose which configuration to use and in the end I preferred the standard chassis. Unfortunately, it did not prove to be the best solution. I struggled with braking, the area where the new frame could have provided more advantages. In any case, the race result is not bad, considering the circumstances. I am back to finishing in the points. We showed some good signs during the weekend and we definitely learned a lot for the season finale”.
Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

The weekend at the Misano circuit ends with the two riders of Octo Pramac Yakhnich that are able to gain some points, despite they had to overcome the difficulties found during the free practices and the qualifying.

Petrux got off a good start and in the first lap he managed to recover four positions lapping with fairly good times. At the end of the ninth lap, the rider of the Fiamme Oro has recorded his best time (1’34.0) giving the feeling of being able to chase the two Espargaro. From mid-race on, the lap times have grown once again. On lap 17, Petrux could not react from the attack of Bautista, but he managed to defend himself from the attempt of Bradl, and then finishing in 11th place

Even Scott’s departure was effectively as he recovered three positions in the first few corners. On lap one, the British rider tried to push registering some encouraging times. But the feeling with the bike has not improved enough. Scott had the merit to continue to try and his performance have improved in the last part of the race. At that point, however, the gap was too wide to recover some positions.

Petrucci: I wanted to do better

It has been harder than I expected. In the race we have improved a little but not enough. I wanted to do better here, at the home Grand Prix, and I am sorry. Tires? Yesterday Jorge Lorenzo made the circuit’s record and today those in front have been very fast, so, obviously, we did not understand how to exploit them at the best. I took some points and this is a good thing. I would like to thank the team for how they are working. It is good to be with them.

Redding: I am sorry

It has been a very difficult weekend. Especially the beginning of the race was frustrating. We are supposed to be among the fastest, in particular in this circuit and, instead, I found it hard to take the slower ones. Every time I tried to overtake someone I could not keep the trajectory, I went wide and I was always behind. It was difficult to find the time and the feeling to go on and get those in front of me. I am very sorry for the way things went.

Kiko Giles

Team Suzuki’s Maverick Viñales fought back to fifth position after a positive race in today’s MotoGP™ round at the World Misano Circuit Marco Simoncelli in San Marino, as team-mate Aleix Espargaró was unfortunate to slip-off at the half-way stage.

Viñales, who started from third position on the front-row aboard his GSX-RR, kept his position in the early stages but got moved down a few positions until making a move back to fifth place. But he was deemed to have crossed a ‘no-go’ racing line and had to slow and relinquish the position to the rider behind him; which he regained very quickly and subsequently held for the rest of the race.

Team-mate Espargaró had more problems with the tyre management today, having a very bad feeling with the front-end that prevented him being really competitive; and which finally resulted in a crash that took him out of the race. The early laps and the whole weekend proved the improvements made for the Spanish rider, but the tyre choice was not the best for his riding style and also some of the tyre performance will be further investigated.

Maverick Viñales: It is a positive result

“I am really satisfied with this race, and although I couldn’t get on the podium, fifth place is a really good result if we consider our starting points; this was one of the hardest tracks for our machine and here it was really hot – a condition in which we have always been struggling recently. Finishing in fifth place, after winning a fierce battle, is a positive result. During the race I felt really confident with the front, but the rear had no grip at all, so I had to push really hard and adapt my riding style. I managed to keep with the leading group at the beginning but then I had to go back. At around half-race distance I felt I could push more and my lap-times became faster again. I had to give-up one position for having exceeded the track limit but recovered immediately. I must say thank you to my team, they did an incredible job and it’s really a relief to be aware that now we are getting competitive also in hot conditions.”

Aleix Espargaró: Once again, a mistake

“The crash was a little one, but exactly the same as the other two I had; three crashes in a weekend is something rare and I’m disappointed with this. I struggled a lot with the front grip for the whole weekend, then in the race I had to push a lot and the problem generated the crash. Such a bad feeling I had in the race is not normal, maybe we can investigate some possible causes, but also the truth is that probably the tyre choice was a mistake. It’s always easy to comment when the game is over, but looking at the winner, we should have made a completely different choice. It’s a mistake, once again I struggled to find a good direction to work, we cannot work harder than what we are doing so be should probably find a better way to work in order to make better choices and be more competitive.”

Kiko Giles

Thousands of passionate Italian fans at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli were on the edge of their seats as they cheered on their Movistar Yamaha MotoGP hero. Valentino Rossi delivered a strong performance and led for most of the race to ultimately take second place in the ‘Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini’. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo also held a fast pace throughout the 28 laps, to take third place.

Starting from second on the grid, Rossi entered the first corner side-by-side with Maverick Viñales, but was quick to leave the Spaniard behind when he flicked his bike left into turn 2 as he wanted to prevent his teammate from clearing off at the front. After the first lap there was just 0.202s between them and only a lap later the Doctor leaped past Lorenzo in turn 14, reversing the order. He followed it up with two fastest laps of the race that far, 1‘33.672s on lap three, and a 1‘33.384s on lap five, increasing his lead to over 0.8s.

The local hero continued to push and was able to extend the margin to 1.2s, but Dani Pedrosa had overtaken Lorenzo and was chasing the Doctor down with eleven laps to go. The pair got involved in a fight for first place three laps later. Making his Yamaha as wide as possible, Rossi defended his lead tooth and nail but with seven laps to go Pedrosa made an aggressive pass at turn 4. Determined to fight to the very end of the race Rossi put in a personal best lap of 1‘33.025s, three laps to the end, but he was unable to catch his rival and took the chequered flag in second place, +2.837s from the front.

Starting from pole Lorenzo had an ideal launch off the line, taking the holeshot. He opted for his traditional strategy to break away early with a few hot laps, but his teammate was on his tail. The pair briefly touched when Rossi moved past a lap later in turn 14, but Lorenzo wasn‘t going to give up on the win easily. The Mallorcan increased his pace steadily but a threat was coming from behind.

Pedrosa was on the charge and with 13 laps remaining the two compatriots battled for second place. Lorenzo kept pushing to cut a chunk of time out of his disadvantage to Rossi, but two laps later he had to let Pedrosa through. Lorenzo continued to shadow the two frontmen, but came just short to be able to cut down the margin and join the fight at the front. He finished in a solid third place, +4.359s behind the winner.

Rossi‘s 20 points gives him a total score of 180, keeping him in second position in the championship standings, with a 43 point margin to the leader. He is 18 points ahead of Lorenzo in third place, who has collected 162 points so far this season.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team will take a short break before the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón in two weeks’ time.

Rossi: Pedrosa was too fast

I tried the maximum to race against Marquez. When I saw that my rhythm was enough to win I was very happy, but later Pedrosa arrived and he was too fast. I tried the maximum but there was no way, he had a better pace. Anyway, it‘s second place. It‘s a shame here in Misano, it‘s a race I especially tried to win, but today it wasn‘t possible. Thank you to all the fans that were at the track, it was great.

Lorenzo: I simply didn’t have the pace

I can‘t be very happy, because I expected a bit more from the race. I tried hard for the victory but today I simply didn‘t have the best pace. Especially Dani had a better pace and Rossi had one tenth on some laps. Little by little they were going away, so I tried my best to stay there but they went ahead. Honestly they were faster.

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko