Aleix caused a great wave of enthusiasm in the Aprilia camp by setting the best time in free practice. It was a great reward for the Italian manufacturer who obtained its best result in MotoGP on this occasion.
Unfortunately, it wasn't going to last and at the end of qualifying Aleix looked gloomy, finding himself in eighth position on the starting grid. But the RS-GP had the speed, it had proven it during free practice, and its skills lent itself well to the particular track of Phillip Island.
Pointed in ninth position at the end of the first lap, Espargaro progressed by doubling Cal Crutchlow, then his brother Pol and his KTM. Sixth for a long time, he was then overtaken by Crutchlow then tried to pass the Englishman again by making him on the outside, which ended in a fall. It was the only retirement of this Grand Prix.
In this fall he fractured the fourth metacarpal of his left hand. He decided not to have an operation and to run in Malaysia.
To Alex Espargaro, “The race was going well. Despite a less than perfect start, I had already joined the lead group and had a good feeling. Unfortunately, as I passed Miller at the first turn, I went a little too far, ending up on the dirty part of the track and sliding. »
“I should be able to compete in the race in Malaysia even with the injury to my hand. We will see what the conditions are on Friday. »
According to Aprilia Competition Director Romano Albesiano, who are " It was a special weekend where we once again demonstrated how competitive our bike is and how Aleix benefits from it. »
“The race started in the best way possible. Despite a less than perfect start that we need to work on, he has recovered impressively quickly. Unfortunately, the accident stopped him in a race where anything could have been possible, but the responses from this track give us great optimism both for the races to come and for 2018."
According to the team manager Fausto Gresini, « Except for the result of the race itself, it was another good weekend. We are competitive, very close to the best in the category. Unfortunately, we leave Phillip Island today with a bitter taste in our mouths, knowing that we have a good bike and a very fast rider. Aleix paid a high price for a small mistake, but that's racing. »
Grand Prix results:
1 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA
2 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1.799
3 1Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1.826
4 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1.842
5 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda HONDA 3.845
6 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 3.871
7 Jack MILLER AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 5.619
8 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 12.208
9 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 16.251
10 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 16.262
11 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 21.652
12 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 21.668
13 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 21.692
14 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 26.110
15 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team DUCATI 26.168
16 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 26.252
17 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team DUCATI 36.377
18 Loris BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 39.654
19 Sam LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 40.400
20 Hector BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 45.901
21 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing DUCATI 48.768
22 Broc PARKES AUS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 57.711
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 MARQUEZ Marc SPA 269 points
2 DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 236
3 VIÑALES Maverick SPA 219
4 ROSSI Valentino ITA 188
5 PEDROSA Dani SPA 174
6 ZARCO Johann FRA 138
7 LORENZO Jorge SPA 117
8 PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 111
9 CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 103
10 FOLGER Jonas GER 84
11 BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA 70
12 MILLER Jack AUS 65
13 ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 62
14 REDDING Scott GBR 61
15 IANNONE Andrea ITA 60
16 ESPARGARO Pol SPA 49
17 RINS Alex SPA 46
18 BAZ Loris FRA 45
19 ABRAHAM Karel CZE 30
20 RABAT Tito SPA 29
21 BARBERA Hector SPA 25
22 SMITH Bradley GBR 20
23 PIRRO Michele ITA 18
24 KALLIO Mika END 11
25 LOWES Sam GBR 5
26 NAKASUGA Katsuyuki JPN 4
27 GUINTOLI Sylvain FRA 1
28 TSUDA Takuya JPN 0
Classification by manufacturers:
1 HONDA 319 points
2 YAMAHA 285
3 DUCATI 278
4 SUZUKI 87
5 APRILIA 64
6 KTM 58
Team ranking:
1 REPSOL HONDA TEAM 443 points
2 MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP 407
3 DUCATI TEAM 353
4 MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 222
5 OCTO PRAMAC RACING 172
6 TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR 107
7 LCR HONDA 103
8 PULL&BEAR ASPAR TEAM 100
9 EG 0,0 MARC VDS 94
10 REALE AVINTIA RACING 70
11 RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 69
12 APRILIA RACING TEAM GRESINI 67
Photo © Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
