Wet weather greeted the MotoGP™ World Championship as they lined up on the grid for round eight of the championship. Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) shot off the line and ended the first lap in third, but from there his pace began to drop off. Down the order he went, dropping as low as 16th position. Both Team Suzuki Ecstar riders struggled to find a comfortable setting in the wet, lacking experience with the bike and the tyres in the wet. Before 2/3rds race distance the red flag was brought out as the rain returned, heavier than ever and making it unsafe to continue.
Espargaro’s crew made adjustments to the setting of the GSX-RR but his race would be ruined before he even completed a lap, Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) pushing Espargaro off the track at Turn 1. He kept it upright and was making progress back through field, the setup changes working well, until he was caught out by the conditions and crashed.
Aleix Espargaro: “It’s a pity because we did a real improvement and my feeling was good. After the first start I felt very uncomfortable on the bike, I couldn’t deploy the power to the ground and also had issues in turning, but in the time between the two legs of the race my crew applied some modifications that finally proved to be very effective. After the second start I had a collision with another rider at Turn 1 which sent me into the gravel, but I didn’t crash and I could re-join the race. After this the improvements to the bike allowed me to feel confident and recover to the riders ahead, but unfortunately I crashed. It’s a pity with the result, but I am finally satisfied for the job we have done and for this experience under the rain and it will be useful for the future in case of another wet race.”