Category: Superbikes

1. GOOD SPRINT RACE FOR APRILIA IN ASSEN

   Posted on 6:00pm Saturday 24th Jun 2023

   ALEIX FOURTH AND JUST BEHIND THE LEADERS AFTER A GOOD SERIES OF OVERTAKES, MAVERICK SEVENTH ON A COMEBACK RIDE THANKS TO GOOD PACE, LORENZO FAST AND PRECISE

   At the end of an unquestionably thrilling race, the factory Aprilia machines finished fourth with Aleix and in seventh place with Maverick. However, the tale of the sprint race in Assen would be incomplete without the events of the early stages after the start. A few brash manoeuvres by Zarco, who then also slowed Miguel Oliveira, negated Aleix and Maverick’s good starts, moving them away from the group battling for the podium and forcing them into a comeback ride.

   Aleix, with precise and clean overtaking, soon moved into fifth place, then making up ground on the riders ahead of him. Once he reached them, despite a brilliant pace, the feeling with the front end kept him from completing another pass which, with Binder’s penalty, would have clinched a podium placement for him.

   Maverick, who started very well from the third row, also had to widen his line on turn 1 and was then involved in the race start tussles. His comeback stopped at seventh place, but the pace he demonstrated when he was able to lap without having to battle is a great confidence booster for him in view of the race tomorrow.

   Also worth a mention is the performance by Lorenzo Savadori, in Assen as a wild card. Battling against much more seasoned factory riders, the Italian took sixteenth place to his great satisfaction, making him optimistic for the race tomorrow.

   Aleix
   "It was a good race. I lost a bit of time at the start with Zarco. I think he was a little too aggressive, but we know that this can happen in the sprint race. I was able to recover quickly enough and then, once I reached the group battling for the podium, I struggled a bit with the feeling at the front. I may have been faster than them in certain points, but I didn’t have the margin to overtake them. I think in the long race tomorrow I’ll have more chances."

   Maverick
   "I’m pleased. It was a good race because we were fast and able to overtake well. When I was able to maintain my pace, I lapped around the 32 and a half mark, which is a pace that would let me make a play for the podium. I also had a good start, but I braked too hard on the first corner and got caught up in the mele which cost me positions, but then I recovered extremely well. Naturally, there are still some things we need to figure out to improve, but we have the pace to stay at the front."

   Lorenzo
   "I’m happy with my sprint race. We all started extremely aggressively, with knives in our teeth, and I lost a bit of ground with overtakes and counter-overtakes. In any case, I had fun. It’s great to battle with the fast factory riders. Our pace isn’t bad. In the race tomorrow, I hope to be able to take another step forward. We are testing some new details on the RS-GP and the ability to be fast is definitely positive."

2. ASSEN SPRINT: ONE POINT FOR MARQUEZ, DIGGIA OUT OF CONTENTION

   Posted on 4:00pm Saturday 24th Jun 2023

   It was a disappointing Saturday afternoon for Team Gresini MotoGP, out of the battle for the top positions with both riders. Alex Marquez is ninth at the chequered flag and last rider in the points (also thanks to a penalty given to Marini during the last lap), while Fabio Di Giannantonio crashed out of the encounter after a few laps while trying a comeback.
    
   The common (and negative) denominator for the riders #73 and #49 was the start. Both Gresini standard bearers lost four positions and were then forced to a comeback: this is not the ideal situation by any means, especially in a 13-lap race. The race pace is there, however, and so the ingredients to do a lot better tomorrow. The goal is a relaxed July and some smiley faces.

   9^th ALEX MARQUEZ #73 
   “Unfortunately, on the opening lap I had a first sector to forget. I got wrong everything I could get wrong from turns one to five and lost a lot of ground. We need something more feeling-wise, and we’ll work on that tomorrow during warm up. One point is better than nothing but it’s clear that we can and must aim at higher positions.”
    
   DNF - FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49
   “We need to improve at the start, this is clear. I immediately lost several places, but in only one lap I had already passed four riders… I was behind Nakagami with the pace to bridge the gap with the group battling for the points, but while entering turn 11 I lost control of the bike and spun around. A pity, but it’ll be a whole different story tomorrow.”

3. APRILIA’S WEEKEND ON THE SACHSENRING COMES TO AN END WITH A MEDIOCRE PERFORMANCE

   Posted on 12:00pm Monday 19th Jun 2023

   It wasn’t the best of Sundays for Aprilia on the Sachsenring. After the difficulties encountered yesterday, Aleix and Maverick were unable to straighten out the German race weekend today.

   Aleix and his team gambled on the soft rear tyre, partially in light of the data collected during the Sprint. It was, unfortunately, a gamble that did not pay off. Although he battled in the early stages of the race, the Spaniard had to reckon with a drastic drop in grip towards the end, finishing outside the points zone.

   Maverick, on the other hand, had a technical problem that forced him to a DNF during the ninth lap.
        
   Aleix
   "I think that with the medium tyre, I would have been able to finish easily in the top 10. However, the data from the Sprint race yesterday seemed to indicate wear that was not too excessive for the soft and that’s why we decided to use it. The decision did not pay off. In the finale I basically had no grip. We were lacking in performance this weekend, as the results from the other Aprilias also shows, on a track where we did not expect to encounter these difficulties."

   Maverick
   "The weekend had started off well straight away but then we were unable to express our potential. If we work well, we know that we can be fast, but evidently there were some problems which conditioned our performance. We still don’t know if this stems from a problem with the engine that forced me to retire. We’ll analyse the data in-depth now and try to figure it out. It’s a shame but complaining won’t help anything. We still believe in the project and we’ll keep our heads down and continue to work hard. The positive note is that I recovered positions in both starts – yesterday in the Sprint race and today in the GP – so from this point of view there was improvement."

4. TEAM GRESINI RACING MOTOGP IN THE POINTS IN GERMANY

   Posted on 4:00pm Sunday 18th Jun 2023

   A positive top-nine was achieved by Team Gresini Racing MotoGP which places both riders in the points with Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth and ninth, respectively, at the chequered flag.
    
   This was a sort of confirmation for both the Spaniard and the Italian, who had a positive and solid showing throughout the weekend and were able to finally capitalise on a good result also in light of the upcoming last of three back-to-back events at Assen. 
    
   Diggia, in particular, put together a great comeback after being all the way down to 14^th at some stage. He recovered five positions before sealing his fourth top-ten finish of the season after Argentina, Texas and Le Mans.

   7^th - ALEX MARQUEZ (11^th in the championship standings – 52 points)
   “We surely bagged some more important points. Too bad for losing so much time behind Aleix (Espargaró) who started the race with soft tyres and in the first laps he tried – rightfully so – to defend his position. When I got past him it was unfortunately too late to bridge the gap with the leaders, even though my pace was top-five worthy. We’re happy and if we managed to solve some set-up issue earlier, we would be talking about a different type of result.”
    
   9^th - FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (15^th in the championship standings – 34 points)
   “We had a great race, maybe my best so far. We completed several overtaking manoeuvres on a track where it’s almost impossible to pass. I’m really happy, even though it’s a shame that we started so far back because the pace was really good. We’re charged up for Assen.”

5. CRAZY SATURDAY AT SACHSENRING: ALEX IN Q2, TOUGH LUCK FOR DIGGIA

   Posted on 12:00pm Saturday 17th Jun 2023

   Two crashes ruined an otherwise good Friday in Germany for Team Gresini MotoGP, who will have some extra work to do today to fix the Desmosedici machines #49 and #73 ahead of tomorrow. It was a pity especially for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who missed the chance of battling for the direct seed to Q2 after showing that it was well within reach. Alex Marquez managed to get through anyway, and with a 9^th place he will surely have a more relaxed FP3.  
    
   The Italian rider managed to stay with the leaders for the whole opening day. His crash at turn 11 happened at the worst time of all – with three minutes left in the session, as the youngster from Rome could not defend his position from his rivals’ charge in what was the best moment, conditions-wise, after the morning rain.
    
   Marquez crashed slightly further into the lap (turn 13) during what could have been his fastest lap of the day (he was +0.008secs away from today’s best lap-time in the third split).

   9^th - ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (1’20.671s)
   “It was a positive day: I managed to be quick straight away and FP1 was a good session. Without the rain we managed to continue the work done with the bike and everything went well. Too bad for the crash during the last time attack because it was a really good lap, but that’s what Fridays are also for: to find the limit. We’re in Q2, so mission accomplished for now.”
    
   11^th - FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (1’20.799s)
   “I’m disappointed, even though I must say we’ve been constantly quick today, so it was also an encouraging day. We did everything perfectly timing-wise and with the tyre choice. I entered the track and got a yellow flag and then a red one. Once we made our way back to the track the tyre had lost a lot of temperature and thus I crashed. Here tyre-temperature is key, especially at turn 11 which is the first right-hander after many to the left. We were not lucky today, but we’re charged up for tomorrow.”