Taking pole position for the 2015 Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya was an undeniable highlight of the year for Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s first pole since returning to the championship. The race would unfortunately end in the gravel and finishing the race is Espargaro’s main goal for the 2016 edition. But his overall ambitions remain much loftier with the GSX-RR having improved significantly since one year ago. The Catalan GP arrives just a few short days after Team Suzuki Ecstar completed a private test in Valencia where Espargaro was able to test a new frame. He and his team made progress with the set-up of his bike, but Espargaro knows there’s still even more to come once the Grand Prix weekend commences. Aside from his DNF in 2015, Espargaro has always scored points in Barcelona in the premier class and took his only Moto2™ World Championship podium at the track in 2011.
Aleix Espargaro: “Racing in Barcelona is always magic; I was born and grew-up very close to the circuit, and when I was a kid at school, I could hear the sound of engines while I was in class, so this again will be an emotional race for me. Lately we have been finding very positive set-ups and my competitiveness has increased a lot. The two days testing in Valencia gave us further options we will investigate more in Barcelona, but the overall feeling is good and I have the confidence that we can improve even more. The bike has also improved a lot since last year and we should suffer less with acceleration problems we had in 2015 as our engine is now performing much better.”