The key factors that decided the outcome of MotoGP’s Aragon GP

While the Aragon Grand Prix appeared to be a walkover for championship leader Marc Marquez, the weekend was actually much more nuanced than it appeared on the surface. 

Here are the four key factors that separated the contenders from the also-rans.

Track surface and layout

The track surface at Motorland is pretty novel in just how little grip it provides. It may have been resurfaced before last year’s grand prix, but it hasn’t made much of a difference with all the riders experiencing some sort of issues.

KTM was one beneficiary of the asphalt around the venue. Even though the riders were not feeling optimistic before the weekend, the track masked the deficiencies of the KTM bike under turn-in conditions as well as its inherent traction issues.

The fact that the KTM bike is particularly strong under braking was also a big advantage as braking composes almost 30% of the lap around the Motorland circuit. Coupled with decent straight line speed, Pedro Acosta was able to come away with fifth place in the sprint and fourth in the main race. He was aided by being the only rider to choose the hard tyre for the front of his bike for Sunday’s race.

In contrast, Francesco Bagnaia really struggled. The factory Ducati rider suffered chronic brake locking problems all weekend which completely eroded his confidence on the bike. He took fourth place on the grid after taking some big risks in qualifying, but only found performance in the main race when his bike was fitted with 15mm larger diameter brake discs.

Bike problems

While the Ducati bikes were relatively well-behaved, both Yamaha and Honda had a torrid time at Aragon. This lack of competitiveness from the other manufacturers in the championship no doubt made things easier for the Ducatis out front.

Yamaha’s problem already began on Friday, as Fabio Quartararo desperately tried to wring some performance out of his YZR-M1 machine. The blue bike wasn’t having any of it, sliding and hopping on the exit of practically every corner. Yamaha’s other riders were having the same issues, echoing Quartararo’s concerns.

Some electronic modifications were found to improve the situation for both qualifying and the sprint race for the Frenchman, but the results were mediocre at best. In the sprint, the 2021 MotoGP champion could only finish 11th while in the race he went down, battling to stay within the top 10.

With the pack bunched up and with some of the regular contenders in strange grid positions, good race starts were vital to stay in contention for a decent result

The other Yamaha riders couldn’t do much better with Alex Rins being the best-placed Yamaha rider in the main race, finishing 11th. Quartararo said he would “forget everything” from the weekend, which wasn’t surprising given how track-specific these problems appeared to be for Yamaha.

From the highs of his Le Mans victory and Silverstone podium, Johann Zarco came crashing back down to earth as Honda’s issues intensified. The Frenchman finished an unremarkable 16th in the sprint race. Afterwards, Zarco told the media that the bike performance “doesn’t make sense” as the vibration problems during cornering returned, an issue that had been believed to be previously eradicated.

While Zarco finished the main race early when he went down on lap nine, the factory Honda of Joan Mir finished in seventh to grab his best position since the 2023 Indian Grand Prix. However, he was still off the pace with similar problems to Zarco.

Qualifying

Aragon is one circuit where qualifying is king

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Marc Marquez showcased his authority during qualifying, putting his bike on pole by nearly three-tenths of a second. By contrast, one rider who would have benefited from a stronger qualifying was Fermin Aldeguer.

After sticking his bike seventh on the grid, the Spaniard fought his way to third in the sprint race. However, in the more subdued main race, he couldn’t make as much progress as his rivals made fewer mistakes. This was best shown during his dramatic battle with Franco Morbidelli, who he simply couldn’t defeat in wheel-to-wheel combat even though he had a pace advantage.

The importance of qualifying at the Motorland circuit was further illustrated by the factory Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi, who suffered several problems trying to set a competitive time. After going down in Turn 3 on his first timed lap in Q1, the Italian only got one lap in, which put his Aprilia 20th on the grid. He managed to make a decent recovery in both the sprint and the main race, finishing both in eighth place, but you couldn’t help but wonder if it shouldn’t have been something more.

Race starts

With the pack bunched up and with some of the regular contenders in strange grid positions, good race starts were vital to stay in contention for a decent result.

While Marc managed to recover from his wheelspin-induced bad start in the sprint race, others weren’t so lucky. For example, Bagnaia’s poor start in the sprint practically dropped him out of contention with his mediocre pace not being able to help him recover the lost ground.

Binder was another to drop back in the sprint race after qualifying in fifth place. He dropped out of the top 10 and could only recover to ninth at the flag, the race too short and the pack too close to make decent progress.

It proved much the same in the main race but this time it was Morbidelli who suffered a bad start, dropping behind the factory KTMs and Bagnaia.

Apart from recovering a position when Binder went down, the pack was so tight that Morbidelli didn’t have a chance of recovering his position and instead focused his energy on keeping Aldeguer behind.

Next up for MotoGP is Mugello on the 21-22 June

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images