MotoGP riders and Team Managers reflect on Aragon – Miller extended cut

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round 12 – Aragon – Sunday
Gran Premio GoPro de Aragon

Marc Marquez – P1

“It was a perfect weekend, a really good weekend because from the beginning the feeling was super good. This morning warm-up, it was wet, and I said, ‘I don’t want to ride’ sometimes, in wet conditions, you can lose the feeling later in the track conditions, and the race was super long.

“I managed the distance – it was super difficult with concentration – but when I crossed the finish line, the value of victory was completely different. I did many things to arrive at this moment and when I crossed the finish line and saw the team and all the people around me who helped me, a very human team, a very nice family, very nice girlfriend, brother…

“I approached this opportunity as a rookie rider. I tried to work more than ever, and we did it, but we need to continue the work. It was strange because some victories even I enjoyed more, but my body didn’t realise what we achieved, and this was something strange because some victories the explosion was much more, even some podiums this year, but as I say the value of the victory is super important and one of the most important things also is that one question mark that has been asked many times, can stop.

“One of my strong points, and a key point of the weekend, was to adapt to the conditions. I was super quick to adapt, ride on the limit and then if you saw the pace of the lap on the last lap, they started to get faster and faster, but I was cruising out there, and I already said at Red Bull Ring, the feeling was super good. We had that extra so I was able to ride super well and now the next target is to try and find the consistency, which is the harder point. I have a great team, family, friends, girlfriend around me, and the things I suffer, sometimes they suffer more than me, and while I cross the line alone, at home I’m not alone.”

Jorge Martin – P2

“First of all I want to congratulate Marc, after such a long period, difficult to do get back on the victory and for sure he deserved it, he’s a great champion.

“For myself, I did the most I could, I didn’t feel really good, trying changes on the bike, it was really difficult to ride out there due to the dirty conditions, so happy to keep that concentration to the end.

“Today at the start I spin quite a lot, like Pecco yesterday, so I was scared, because I remembered Qatar last season, I say where maybe my rear tyre wasn’t working, but when I went into second with Pedro we went wide, was really complicated, and Marc already had two-seconds, so I tried to be fast and keep that distance and at least to have a chance at the end. But at some point I saw that there was no way, and when Pecco crashed there was six or seven laps to go, really quite long because I wanted to finish, so I wanted to make it to the end without any risks, so this was a difficult race.

“Thanks to Pedro (Acosta) as he opened the door, he didn’t try and close it, maybe was surprised, he was normal, but I locked the front going into corner eight and then released and we go wide, and there was a lot of dust and I lost both tyres and went wide, but at least it wasn’t green, wasn’t a shortcut. Then he overtook but my bike was very fast in the straight today, we lost some weight so it was working.

“For my side from my opinion at the moment, I think the championship is not so important, for sure it’s important to be there, the important thing is we are always strong, lately Silverstone we were close, Austria more close, but here far away from victory, so always there. But what happened in the past doesn’t matter, last time I was here, I was super far, now I am second. Misano I won last year, but with Italian riders it will be super difficult they are super strong.”

Pedro Acosta – P3

“Tough race, managing the drop of the rear tyre and the track conditions was not easy at all, but we did our best to stay at the front, to maintain our pace, even if the guys ahead had already made a huge gap. Normally we finish 5th today without the Bagnaia-Marquez crash, so I am really happy with our weekend, because it is the first time that we have been competitive for a couple of rounds. We are heading to Misano feeling positive, and I look forward to continuing in that way next week.”

Brad Binder – P4

“A really tricky race. I needed a good start but I spun off the line again and all the way to Turn 1. I managed to pick my way through and pass a few guys. It was difficult not to make mistakes because the front tire was cooking until the end of the race. I tried my best to get Pedro but there was nothing left from the rear! We tried something different with the balance of the bike this weekend and it seemed to work over the distance. I think we have made a small step and we’ll try again next week.”

Franco Morbidelli – P5

“Was finally a solid race, unfortunately I made a big mistake while fighting for the podium and lost three positions, and then I needed to recover from then on, but I could have recovered the position on Bez, but I made other mistakes when I was trying to catch up again. Anyway a positive weekend, because we were able to improve step by step, and starting with a very hopeful feeling and getting better and better.”

Enea Bastianini – P5

“I’m not happy because it was a very difficult race, maybe the toughest of the season and surely the opening day had a significant impact on my chances to do well. I had the speed, but it was hard to put all the pieces together: I tried to overtake on many occasions, but often enough things didn’t go according to plan, as I ended up going wide and making mistakes. The track was really dirty outside the racing line and that made everything a lot more difficult. It’s really a shame, because I think we could have got more out of this weekend, but we must be content with this fifth place.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P7 (demoted to eighth after tyre pressure penalty)

“We can only be happy. If after Austria they had told me: you go to Aragon, you race for sure at 100% and make the Top10 I would never have believed it. Despite the penalty, today everything went well, I started strong, I managed the tires well, kept a great pace and made many overtakings. Then at the end, a lot of pain in my shoulder and even now that the adrenaline has gone. It was important to be here and now fully focused on Misano.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P8

“Another weekend with overall positive feelings. Yesterday was a tough race, but we recovered. Today it went even better, I started as fast as yesterday and I was in the slipstream of the Top5. Eight laps from the end I started to have a drop on the front tire, we knew it, it’s a problem we’ve been trying to manage since Friday. I’m not perfect on the bike and I really stress the front a lot. I tried to survive until the finishing line, shame about today but we won’t give up. See you at the home GP!”

Alex Rins – P9

“Today, it was a crazy Race. Starting from P21, it was not easy! Yesterday, I finished the Sprint race with some frustration. The conditions were really tough yesterday, and I was hoping that during the night it wouldn’t rain, but finally it did… But I’m happy because I was still able to succeed. I was able to reset, and I rode the bike quite well today. I felt like the old days: controlling the throttle and managing the tyres. The level of grip was very low again, but this is a great result for me and for the team. It’s a small boost to continue working.”

Jack Miller – P10 (demoted to fifteenth after tyre pressure penalty)

“It was bloody good to be back in Aragón, the track is super fun to ride, a good surface, no bumps, and one of those circuits where you can just go fast which makes it a whole heap of fun. We were riding finally what I felt was a bit of momentum into this round, obviously, the fall in Austria wasn’t ideal, but we were able to pick the bike up and show great speed for the remainder of the race, so those signs were promising.

“Good speed early in Aragón, sitting P3 in FP2 again shows the pace that we have at times, although the inconsistency hurts us, especially when the tyre is in its various windows, and the vibration starts.  We’re steadily overcoming these challenges, but again it’s been a long process from GP1 to now, with some trial and error at each Grand Prix to understand things further.

“As for the Sprint Race, we didn’t have an ideal grid position in that one, but I felt we made the most of what we had, as I closed in on the back of that big group who were running a decent pace. Unfortunately, once I got there we had an issue with the front tyre pressure, which felt super weird and as if I was riding in the wet. I managed it in that race from that point on to come home in P13.

“It was a long old Feature Race – I got off to a decent start but had a big moment on lap one, as I couldn’t seem to get the mid part of the tyre to switch on. From there on I was nursing it and was able to push a bit more once the tyre scrubbed in during the later stages, but overall it was a mistake-free race and P10 was the result. That wasn’t the end of the story for us unfortunately, as we received a tyre pressure penalty which was disappointing and we were demoted back down to P15.

“Tough race and penalty to swallow, but we again showed signs across the weekend and will come back in Misano and have a good swing at it again.”

Aleix Espargaro – P11

“We couldn’t get the tyres to work. It was a difficult race, I was more focused on avoiding the crash than on the performance. It was even difficult to touch the ground with my knee, I couldn’t even bend the bike. It’s a strange and new situation for us, difficult to accept. We need to understand what happened.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P12

“I’ve always liked this track. Despite not facing our best moment, we’ve done a good job this weekend, and I’ve enjoyed today’s race. The bike allowed me to push more than usual, making me have some fun. I want to thank the team for their job!”

Augusto Fernandez – P13

“We are still far in terms of final positions and gap to the race winner, but I am happy with the pace we showed today, especially towards the end as I was able to ride in 1’49, which is not bad. The start was not as good as yesterday, so I had to work hard to recover some positions, and I made some mistakes, lost some time. I look forward to continuing the work in Misano next week already.”

Johann Zarco – P14

“I made some mistakes because the track conditions were tricky, and I couldn’t squeeze the bike’s potential. In any case, this weekend has been positive for us: we’ve taken a step forward and confirmed that there is potential to recover from the current situation”.

Joan Mir – P15

“Today in the race we tried something really, really different on the bike to try and fix some issues we have been having. The sort of change that you can’t normally make during a weekend. It was not the direction to follow, but it has helped us to understand a lot of things. It’s something really good that we were able to try and the information we have will help in the long term. I am struggling mostly on corner entry where I was strong before so this is one thing to work on as well.”

Raul Fernandez – P16 (15 second tyre pressure penalty but did not change finish position)

“Today was super difficult! I don’t really understand what happened. Yesterday, I had three laps with more or less good grip and then I had a lot of graining on the tires. But today, I had nothing. I didn’t have any grip, I felt like I was riding on ice all race long and so I made a lot of mistakes. One rider pushed me off the track when I was fighting to be the first Aprilia but, really, we just didn’t have the pace today. Aleix (Espargaro) was the best Aprilia, he did a 1:49.9 and we did a 1:50.0 but, saying that, we just didn’t have more. Next week we have another race and at the moment I think we have to understand the situation with traction and to find a solution for the future. In Misano, we normally have a lot of grip in all conditions which should be fine for us to get the tires working. To think about Misano now is not priority for me right now – in my opinion, it’s more important to find a solution for the future if conditions are like this and at least, having a plan to work through some different options with the bike. I think today was one of the most difficult races of my life because you go in with certain expectations and I didn’t even have one rider behind me in the end. The only positive out of that is that we all seem to face the same issues in Aprilia, we are four riders, giving four times the feedback and we can work united to find a direction.”

Luca Marini – P17

“The start of the race today is something we need to investigate because obviously it meant we were out of contention, I had to come back into the pit lane. It’s a pity because we are really getting closer and closer, making progress every session but we are not making the most of opportunities – we had the chance to score good points today with what happened ahead. My laps were similar to the other Honda riders which shows we could have been there without the start. Now we go to Misano which is a completely different track.”

Francesco Bagnaia – DNF

“I feel a lot of pain in my neck, but could be much worse, so is okay. My view is the view of everybody, that has a normal point of view in terms of race.. Because it is quite clear what happened. He was wide, I was in front with much more speed, I enter the corner without closing the line.. I knew he was there, but my speed was enough to overtake him without any problems, and as soon as I enter the corner then I hear, his engine, opening the throttle, he was trying to arrive to this contact… And also the data, he remain with 60 per cent throttle open even when he crashed, so this is very strange by a rider I think.  Right now, I’m quite in pain, especially in my left shoulder, but it looks like there’s nothing broken. We’ll do our best to be as fit as possible at Misano.”

Alex Marquez – DNF

“I’m fine, I have some impact on the left leg, but is nothing broken, sad for how we ended the weekend, we were quite strong yesterday. Also today I was trying to make my best race, trying not to make mistakes, trying to be constant, I did some small mistakes likve everybody because the track was really slippery. Later on the contact with Pecco, I mean I went wide a little bit in 12, and when I come back I wasn’t really out, I was quite on the line, I just went in to 13, I was not expecting him, I did not see him I was on my side of the bike, and we had that small contact that made me pick up the bike, and to press together and I had nothing to do. I didn’t see him, I didn’t see anyone coming, he closed a lot and came from the outside line to the inside. We speak separately to stewards in race direction… I think that something that can happen with racing, if someone can’t see I was there, it was him, he was on the outside, so if you come from the outside you cannot close the line, you must leave one metre, no more for the other rider on the inside, so changes of direction, we’ve many times seen these things, but I’m sad as nothing will change what happened today.”

Maverick Vinales – DNF

“We had difficulty getting the tyres to work, it felt like we were crashing at every corner, especially with the rear tyre. It was a complicated weekend for Aprilia and for me, because after the good performance on Friday, things didn’t work anymore.”

Fabio Quartararo – P21

“I was trying to catch up with the riders ahead of me, tried to go a little bit faster, and then I just lost the front. I tried to find the limit, and I found it pretty quickly. The grip for us was really low this weekend, and today it was less than yesterday. Physically, I’m perfectly OK, though! It’s just the way it is. Hopefully, in Misano the feeling is better.”

Miguel Oliveira – DNF

“I’m physically OK but, obviously, disappointed. We had the chance to score good points today and I can’t really understand our real potential by just doing one lap. For sure, it’s frustrating not being able to at least do a bit more racing to see where we were. I knew I had to push from the beginning to stay with the front group and I did exactly that but went slightly off line into the last corner and just lost it. The bike was really unforgiving in those areas, especially when you go in and commit to the corner. Anyway, we take the positives, go to Misano and hopefully we can have a better weekend there.”

Nicolas Goyon – GASGAS Team Manager

“Awesome end to our Aragon campaign with Pedro Acosta’ s incredible performance today. It was by far his best weekend of the season, with a front row start, a P3 in the sprint and a P3 today, so we are all super happy to be back where we want to be after a few difficult rounds. We simplified our methods this weekend, came back to a more basic bike similar to the one at the start of the season, and it worked really well. Pedro did a great job, managing the tyres which was not easy, so we are all very proud of him. Augusto Fernandez finished again in the points, with a competitive pace, but he needs to improve on Fridays, if he wants to target top 10 results. We already have a new race week coming in Misano followed by an important test before the overseas, so we are looking forward to continuing the work.”

Francesco Guidotti – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager

“Difficult weekend but in the end we’re pretty happy with a solid result and Jack also making the top ten on track. It was tricky because there were always different conditions or circumstances but we were able to manage it. Steady results and we now go to Misano also looking to the test afterwards and Pol’s [Espargaro] wildcard which will give us some help for the future.”

Pablo Nieto – Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team Manager

“Definitely another solid GP, after a difficult qualifying, with the guys who managed to make a step forward right in the race. Today both Marco and Fabio started strong and tried to move up the standings. It’s a shame about the final epilogue: on one hand Marco has struggled a lot in the last laps, he had a drop and had to give up positions when he was a few meters from the Top5. Fabio instead finished very strong, but the tire pressure was irregular and cost him a penalty. Having said that, I’m happy with the work done, we managed a difficult weekend. Now full gas towards Misano, our second home race of the season.”

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“Another mixed day for us. Let’s start with the positives. Álex has been working so hard despite the setbacks he faced this season concerning injuries. Today he is enjoying some well deserved progress, and now we aim to continue this trend. Considering Álex’ starting position, he made up a lot of places. Fabio crashed out today, but thankfully he is perfectly OK. It’s just a shame because he was catching up to the riders ahead, so we think he could have gotten a good result again. But that’s racing. Luckily we have a do-over next week at the San Marino GP.”

Massimo Rivola – Aprilia Racing

“ A horrible weekend, on Friday we were fast with a minimum of grip, but then we lost our way, being about four seconds slower than our best times. Not being able to find a convincing performance must stimulate us to continue the work of analysis and development in view of the next races, starting with Misano ”.

Wilco Zeelenberg – Trackhouse Team Manager

“Sunday has been a disaster for us. Yesterday, we had some speed, Miguel with a fifth place and Raul with a big fight against Pecco (Bagnaia) and Fabio (Quartararo) in P11. That showed we have pace enough to do something good today but, unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Miguel had a good start but crashed out in the first lap – he was pushing and trying to stay with the others but was a bit wide into turn 16 where the grip level was very low and the track was very dirty and he crashed. Raul lost three places at the start and was trying to find grip on his bike. He complained about the behavior of the machine as he couldn’t ride as he wanted and for that reason, he was slow. Then he had an attack from Augusto Fernandez, who hit him on the side and he had to go wide off track and that was the end of his race. He lost five seconds in one lap and then had to ride alone. We estimated a high tire pressure in the front but because there was nobody in front of him, to get it in the window where it should be, the pressure dropped. Anyway, it was a disappointing weekend, but also a very strange one, so let’s forget quickly and focus on the two rounds in Misano. I think that’s a track everybody wants to go to and hopefully the grip level is fantastic there and we can enjoy it.”

Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Team Principal

“The positive of the weekend is that we had both riders in Q2 and were quite fast on Friday. But then the conditions on the track changed through the weekend and we found ourselves in difficulties. We had good starting positions this time, but we couldn’t use them. So, we take some positives away from today; it could have been very good but unfortunately, it didn’t end up as we hoped and expected. Miguel had a great start, he was in a good position but he had a crash on the first lap – that’s racing, it happens. Concerning Raul, he was never able to keep up his pace and probably wasn’t able to generate enough grip. He has been pushed out of the track as well during the race, which caused him to lose positions and made it difficult for him. I’m glad that he managed to finish in the end though, that is important. We will analyze what happened here, see how we can improve from these situations and look at the coming week in Misano.”

Piero Taramasso – Michelin

“We have never seen a European circuit where the temperature of the tyres rises so quickly.  By inspecting the track on foot, we were able to see the ‘closed’ and very smooth nature of the asphalt, and understand the origin of this thermal behaviour. Such a surface, unusual in the MotoGP calendar, generates a lot of heat when in contact with the rubber and prevents any ventilation that could cool it. This phenomenon is even stronger at the rear, because it also involves transmitting the power of the motorcycles to the ground, which releases additional energy. If we add to that the fairly significant differences in the air and track temperatures between the tests and the races, in addition to heavy rain that washed the track during the night, we get complex conditions to master, which did not help our partners find the best settings. As at every Grand Prix where the asphalt is new, we fortunately brought three different rear rubber compounds (instead of the usual two) in order to allow our partners to identify the best performance windows of the different options. For the front, we quickly saw that the Medium would be the best choice for the whole weekend. While for the rear, the Soft compound was perfect for the time attack and the Sprint race, but it was the Medium that had to be selected for the Grand Prix.”

MotoGP Aragon Race Results

Aragon MotoGP Top Speeds Across Weekend

MotoGP Championship Standings