Espargaro: “I couldn’t push very hard”

A crash in Warm Up left Aleix Espargaro with a rebuilt bike, one that he didn’t have the same confidence in.

Aleix Espargaro’s 100th GP start began well as the Team Suzuki Ecstar rider made a thrilling start to the race, jumping from sixth to third at the first corner. After the great start, he did all he could to stay with the leading riders but slowly began to fade back, unable to push as he wanted. This lack of feeling came as a result of his GSX-RR having to be rebuilt after a nasty fall in Warm Up, his team doing all they could to restore the bike. The team are still unsure as to what exactly caused the issues and are keen to uncover them during a private test in Valencia.

Aleix Espargaro, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR, Gran Premio d'Italia TIM

Even with the issues, Espargaro managed to finish inside the top ten as he crossed the line in ninth, ten seconds behind his teammate. But the top ten was of little consolation to Espargaro who was feeling confident for the race before his Warm Up crash. After the test in Valencia, Espargaro will head to Barcelona for the seventh round of the MotoGP™ World Championship, his home race.

Aleix Espargaro: “Unfortunately I made a very big mistake in the warm up, crashing the bike very badly and my crew had to work very hard to build it up from zero in such a short time and I am very grateful to them. But unfortunately, with the rebuilt bike, I didn’t feel the same confidence I had before, so I couldn’t push very hard. It’s a shame because in the warm up again we made a great step forward and I was feeling very confident. My start was good, my strategy indeed was to jump as fast as possible and gain as much as possible, but what I did wasn’t enough. Let’s hope for a better race in Barcelona, it’s my home circuit and I hope things will get better.”