Aprilia’s Disappointing Weekend at the 2023 German Grand Prix: Espargaro Struggles and Ducati Dominance

A weekend definitely below expectations for Aprilia at the Sachsenring on the occasion of the 2023 German Grand Prix, the seventh round of the MotoGP World Championship. Negative balance specifically also for Alex Espargaroeven outside the points zone in the race and never really in contention for the top positions net of the fractures in his foot sustained in the Mugello bicycle accident.

“It was a nightmare race, we didn’t have the speed of the Ducati and after the little data we had from the rain on Friday and Saturday morning, I decided to use the soft rear tyre, I think like the Yamaha with Quartararo. Last year it was the tire that won, in the Sprint it wasn’t so destroyed, I was fast in the last laps, so I expected it to degrade, but not so soon: it was a mistake to choose that compound, a nightmare“, said the Catalan from Aprilia after the GP.

“I think with the average I could have finished ninth or top 10 for sure but not further on so we have tried to do something different to the others to try and compensate for the lack of performance we are having this year but it hasn’t worked. We made a mistake, but we still don’t have the speed. It’s amazing how fast the Ducati is. They have placed eight bikes in the top nine at Sachsenring, which is not Austria or Mugello, where they have always been fast. It’s incredible“, declared the bearer of the Noale company.

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“They have done a phenomenal job, they have very fast riders which makes the difference and the key is that they don’t all come together. Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia flew, they beat everyone else, but the other Ducati riders were quite a bit behind. Yet they managed to beat the rest of the builders“, Aleix’s words on the dominance of the Reds (source: Motorsport.com).

On the reasons for the technical superiority of the Desmosedicis: “They stop the bike much better than us and then are able to put the power to the ground without having any spinning. They don’t damage the tires as in the past, they are able to optimize the power of their engine. I don’t think in terms of total power they are far superior to the others, but in terms of how they discharge it to the ground they have much more“.

Credit: MotoGP.com Press