The grip conditions on the Spanish Montmelò track did not improve during the second day of practice, complicated by asphalt temperatures reaching 50°C in the afternoon. For the Aprilia riders, this meant working in anticipation of the race on tyre choices and the best setup for tomorrow’s 24 laps.
In FP4, the most indicative session from this point of view, Andrea and Aleix both started with used tyres, demonstrating a rather consistent pace over the long distance. Bradley, on the other hand, assessed the two solutions, soft and medium, in order to gather as much informations as possible.
Unfortunately, the results they had hoped for did not arrive in qualifying, with Aleix having to settle for sixth row and Andrea forced to abort his second outing due to a technical problem with the ride-by-wire on his RS-GP. So, it is looking like it will be a race from behind for the Aprilia trio, on the hunt for a top-10 finish.