Submitted by David Emmett on
MotoGP has returned to Jerez , and the bikes are out on track once again. First up on Friday - after the Red Bull Rookies, who are running as a support class here in Jerez - were the 125 class, where Pol Espargaro took first blood on the Tuenti Derbi, just pipping Red Bull Ajo's Marc Marquez in the dying seconds. Espargaro's teammate Efren Vazquez rounded out the top 3, while Sandro Cortese made it a clean sweep for Derbi in the top 4.
The most notable thing about the 125s, however, was the difference in times. The top three are all within a quarter of a second, but Cortese is over a second behind in 4th, and Alberto Moncayo in 8th place is fully 2 seconds behind Espargaro, and just ahead of Bancaja Aspar's Bradley Smith.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
| 1 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | DERBI | 1'47.327 | ||
| 2 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | DERBI | 1'47.448 | 0.121 | 0.121 |
| 3 | 7 | Efren VAZQUEZ | DERBI | 1'47.574 | 0.247 | 0.126 |
| 4 | 11 | Sandro CORTESE | DERBI | 1'48.418 | 1.091 | 0.844 |
| 5 | 40 | Nicolas TEROL | APRILIA | 1'48.592 | 1.265 | 0.174 |
| 6 | 12 | Esteve RABAT | APRILIA | 1'49.050 | 1.723 | 0.458 |
| 7 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | APRILIA | 1'49.270 | 1.943 | 0.220 |
| 8 | 23 | Alberto MONCAYO | APRILIA | 1'49.340 | 2.013 | 0.070 |
| 9 | 53 | Jasper IWEMA | APRILIA | 1'49.449 | 2.122 | 0.109 |
| 10 | 99 | Danny WEBB | APRILIA | 1'49.615 | 2.288 | 0.166 |
| 11 | 71 | Tomoyoshi KOYAMA | APRILIA | 1'49.810 | 2.483 | 0.195 |
| 12 | 94 | Jonas FOLGER | APRILIA | 1'50.205 | 2.878 | 0.395 |
| 13 | 5 | Alexis MASBOU | APRILIA | 1'50.269 | 2.942 | 0.064 |
| 14 | 69 | Louis ROSSI | APRILIA | 1'50.277 | 2.950 | 0.008 |
| 15 | 26 | Adrian MARTIN | APRILIA | 1'50.348 | 3.021 | 0.071 |
| 16 | 35 | Randy KRUMMENACHER | APRILIA | 1'50.555 | 3.228 | 0.207 |
| 17 | 32 | Lorenzo SAVADORI | APRILIA | 1'50.746 | 3.419 | 0.191 |
| 18 | 14 | Johann ZARCO | APRILIA | 1'50.765 | 3.438 | 0.019 |
| 19 | 84 | Jakub KORNFEIL | APRILIA | 1'51.020 | 3.693 | 0.255 |
| 20 | 78 | Marcel SCHROTTER | HONDA | 1'51.361 | 4.034 | 0.341 |
| 21 | 87 | Luca MARCONI | APRILIA | 1'51.374 | 4.047 | 0.013 |
| 22 | 57 | Isaac VINALES | APRILIA | 1'51.639 | 4.312 | 0.265 |
| 23 | 58 | Joan PERELLO | HONDA | 1'51.643 | 4.316 | 0.004 |
| 24 | 39 | Luis SALOM | LAMBRETTA | 1'51.831 | 4.504 | 0.188 |
| 25 | 51 | Riccardo MORETTI | APRILIA | 1'52.072 | 4.745 | 0.241 |
| 26 | 50 | Sturla FAGERHAUG | APRILIA | 1'52.088 | 4.761 | 0.016 |
| 27 | 63 | Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN | APRILIA | 1'52.599 | 5.272 | 0.511 |
| 28 | 60 | Michael VAN DER MARK | APRILIA | 1'53.146 | 5.819 | 0.547 |
| 29 | 59 | Johnny ROSELL | HONDA | 1'53.199 | 5.872 | 0.053 |
| 30 | 72 | Marco RAVAIOLI | LAMBRETTA | 1'53.270 | 5.943 | 0.071 |
| 31 | 80 | Quentin JACQUET | APRILIA | 1'53.367 | 6.040 | 0.097 |
Comments
Coupla questions
Are there any fundamental differences between the Derbis and the Aprilias, i.e., are they designed, engineered, and built entirely separately, or are they basically the same bike only with different branding?
Secondly, are the 125s at this point, for all practical purposes, just like how the 250s were, with different levels of the "Aprilia Cup" bikes, with Aprilia in total control of who gets what level of bike, or, unlike the 250s, are all the 125 Aprilias/Derbis pretty much at the same level?
No And Yes
As I understand it, there are no differences between the Derbis and the Aprilias, other than the name badge. It's just the Derbi teams seem to have a better handle on the bike. The Aprilia RSA is really tricky to set up, and that's hurting the Aprilia teams, but not the Derbis.
And yes, there are two levels of bike. But the problem is more about setup than anything else.