Finger fracture ends Aleix Espargaro’s test, Vinales ‘big step’
The MotoGP title contender fell from his RS-GP at Turn 13, damaging the little finger on his left hand.
“Unfortunately, I crashed in a very fast corner and there is a small piece of bone broken on the little finger,” Espargaro said. “I’ll check it again with Dr Mir in Barcelona but it doesn’t look super serious and I think it will be okay for Aragon.”
Despite the early finish, Espargaro set the fifth fastest time of the test, 0.279s from Yamaha’s world championship leader Fabio Quartararo.
“We tried a chassis and some other parts this morning,” Espargaro added. “Now we need to evaluate everything for 2023. We have to be careful because there’s always more grip at the tests.”
Espargaro starts the final six rounds having slipped to third in the world championship, 33 points from Quartararo and 3 from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Maverick Vinales: We made a big step
Espargaro’s team-mate Maverick Vinales and test rider Lorenzo Savadori completed a total of 427 laps over the two days.
On the podium behind the Ducatis of Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini in Sunday’s race, Vinales was again the leading Aprilia rider at the test, finishing third overall (+0.135s).
But it was race pace where the #12 felt he had taken a ‘big step’.
“We concentrated a lot for the race rhythm and I can say we made a big step,” Vinales said.
“In the second part of the race on Sunday I lost something compared to the best riders and in these two days we have also had the opportunity to analyse that situation and work to improve it.
“From the race weekend we improved the set-up and when we put race mode on, we immediately made the [race] lap record. So everything is going the way we want and the progression continues.
"We have definitely taken a step forward with these tests. I am satisfied with the work Aprilia is doing, both with a view to 2023 and to help me in this season finale.”
Vinales may have handed Aprilia its eighth podium of a breakthrough season in the San Marino Grand Prix, but technical director Romano Albesiano insists ‘we are not satisfied’.
"Despite the results of this season, our path to perfect competitiveness is still a long one. We are not satisfied and we won't be until we manage to fill all the gaps in the RS-GP,” he said.
“We are already working on the ideas that will go on to define the 2023 prototype but the analysis process has to be meticulous, the risk of missteps is always just around the corner.
“There are concepts that seem to work, others that don't clearly improve, so after so many laps we will have to be good at analysing the data collected. We are at a good level of performance, but this does not allow us to slow down development."
Aprilia’s success means the factory will lose technical concessions for 2023 when it will also support a satellite team in the form of RNF.
