MotoGP: Aragon track causes problems for rookie Lowes

Sam Lowes says that part of the reason that he and his fellow MotoGP rookies struggled so much during Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix at the Motorland Aragon track is simply the nature of the circuit making life difficult for them.

That, and missing out on a day’s dry track time thanks to conditions on Friday, means that he was on the back foot all weekend – and unable to meet his target of a point-scoring finish despite the Aprilia machine’s strengths at the Spanish circuit.

“Unfortunately, I struggled yesterday, I think partly because of the characteristics of the track that gave a lot of us MotoGP rookies trouble. I knew that my pace wouldn’t be the fastest today, but I was able to be consistent and not make any mistakes, finishing the race. Obviously, my objective is different, but on a less than easy weekend with only a few sessions held on dry asphalt to prepare for the race, I need to look at the positive aspects and think about Japan.”

And the strengths of the RS-GP package were shown in style by teammate Aleix Espargaró, who managed to match his best-ever Aprilia in sixth thanks in part to the bike’s ability to manage tyre life.

“I think everyone had fun. It is not often that so many riders are so close all the way to the chequered flag in MotoGP. It was a hard race, but I liked it. At a certain point, I thought that I might be able to have a go at fourth place with Valentino and Maverick, but when there were only a few laps left, they picked up their pace and I had to settle.

“In any case, I am satisfied with the sixth place finish, but especially with the gap behind the winner. We are improving constantly and we demonstrate that basically every weekend. Unfortunately, we have been lacking consistent race results. In any case, we still have four rounds to go on tracks that I really like, so I want to finish this season well.”