Catch us if you can: Aprilia ‘difficult to beat’ in Catalunya

Espargaro, who went to school within earshot of the slippery Barcelona track, finished with a 0.3s advantage over Vinales on new soft rubber but had also been the rider to beat on the hard and medium rear tyres.

“We know from Argentina that with low grip the Aprilias go super fast,” said Yamaha’s reigning champion Fabio Quartararo, currently just eight points clear of Espargaro in this year's standings.

“But even on race pace, today I was 6-7 tenths slower than Aleix.”

"The only thing I can see is the grip they have," said Andrea Dovizioso. "On the rear it’s really good. For sure, it’s mechanical grip. At the level we’re at now with the electronics, the difference is just mechanical.

"When I tried the [Aprilia] bike, straight away I felt similar to the Ducati, that the grip is very good. I don’t know what they changed from the bike I tried last year. In Argentina, the grip was very low and they were so good.

"For sure, I’m not the fastest in the middle of the corner, but Aleix overtook me around the outside at Turn 3… So I was a bit surprised!"

“Always, when there's no grip, that bike seems to work well,” Ducati’s Jack Miller said of the Aprilia. “They're able to spin the tyre without having the consumption of the tyre.

“I saw Pecco’s shoulder camera this morning and you can quite clearly see from that, the acceleration difference and how well [Aprilia] were able to find the grip.”

Francesco Bagnaia: ‘It will be difficult to beat them’

“They have really good traction, it's something I have seen all this year, but in this track they can make more difference," confirmed Mugello winner Bagnaia.

“For sure Aleix rides the Aprilia bike incredibly, and Maverick is coming to ride it in the same way as Aleix. So it will be difficult to beat them in this track, but we will work to do it.”

“This track has very low grip,” confirmed Espargaro, chasing his fifth podium in a row this weekend. “I remember Barcelona was just like Brno and now we don’t have Brno, so Barcelona is the lowest grip circuit on the calendar.

“It is just Friday, we have to be calm, but [now in MotoGP] you need to be strong from Friday or it is very difficult.

“So we started in a good way: With the hard tyre I think I have been the strongest, with the medium tyre I have been the strongest and with the soft I made the fastest lap.”

The big question now is whether grip levels will improve significantly as the weekend develops, helping others reel the Aprilias in. Or will the RS-GPs remain out of reach for the factory’s second MotoGP victory, and perhaps first double rostrum, after Espargaro’s landmark win in Argentina?

Time will tell.

With no rain expected, grip levels should rise thanks to the rubber being laid down on track. But the hot afternoon sun also appears to make the surface greasy and Joan Mir warned: “I don't know if the grip will improve during the weekend. I expected yes, but during today it hasn't improved [from FP1 to FP2].”

Why is the Aprilia so good in low grip conditions?

“We improved a lot this year with the traction, the stability. We also didn’t have the rear ride device here last year, which our rivals were already using,” Espargaro explained.

“I know this track and I started very, very focused from Friday, like I did in Mugello. Unfortunately in Mugello I lost time in qualifying so I hope I can do a good qualifying here. I wanted to fight for victory in Mugello because my pace was very similar to Pecco. So we will try again here.”

While ‘Captain’ Espargaro continues to carry the Aprilia challenge, team-mate Vinales enjoyed his best day since moving to the RS-GP, from Yamaha, midway through 2021.

“It’s very important for him, I really like to see him happy,” Espargaro said of Vinales’ second place. “Also for everybody in Aprilia; we are leading the Teams’ championship and the atmosphere in the garage is unbelievable.”

Espargaro added that, as at Mugello, there is a chance the pair will work together in FP3.

“Being able to work together with Maverick is very helpful. For the second half of the championship if he is closer to me then it will be better,” Espargaro said.

“We didn’t talk about [riding together] but the slipstream here is also important because the top speed is very high, so maybe we can do the same tomorrow.”

Maverick Vinales: 'A very real opportunity for victories'

Having seen his race pace blunted by poor qualifying for much of this season, Vinales is focussing more than ever on his one-lap performance this weekend, hence his soft tyre time attacks in both FP1 and FP2.

“We are training!” he said of his hot laps. “Straightaway the feeling was very good on the bike. So I just keep riding and keep [adjusting] myself to the bike on this track. Very positive feelings overall.

“I have kind of a feeling like Argentina: when there is no grip somehow we can have more traction. But it is just Friday, everybody is going to improve and we need to improve too.

“We focused a lot on the race pace, that’s why I put a tyre for FP1 and then another at the end to see how the feeling was with a new tyre and I kept it for FP2 to make a lot of laps and see the tyre consumption.

“When I put the soft the jump was huge so I still didn’t take enough profit. But it’s very nice to be fast at the home GP.”

A previous race winner for Suzuki and Yamaha, Vinales currently has a best Aprilia finish of seventh and is just 14th in the world championship. But if he can put all of the pieces together, most notably qualifying, there is ‘a very real opportunity’ for victories.

“I am focussing a lot to do everything well, on the track, on the bike and off the bike. I only keep eyes on me because it is important to be at the maximum,” he said.

“I know in Mugello we had a very good race. We have the possibility here to have a very good race. Then we have Sachsenring, Assen, Silverstone… they are also my tracks!

“That’s why I am very focussed on myself, there is going to be a very real opportunity for victories."

Both Espargaro and Vinales have been confirmed as remaining at Aprilia for the next two seasons.