The Japanese are the Japanese, the Italians are the Italians!
Although we never really knew what happened to the engine of Marc Márquez during the qualification of Austin 2015, nor indeed even that of Valentino Rossi at Mugello 2016, it only took a few days to Roman Albesian, the Aprilia MotoGP project boss, to explain the mechanical incidents that happened to Alex Espargaro during the Catalan Grand Prix.
“We had a problem with the pneumatic valve train system. This problem has happened a few times already. Unfortunately, it happened again. We have to resolve this. It's not a new design, but some details have been changed. The system was already the same last year, and this problem did not occur. In qualifying, Aleix had an electrical problem which cost him a lot of time. »
The pneumatic valve control system advantageously replaces the traditional steel springs on all MotoGP bikes. These are pneumatic cylinders which, thanks to an operating pressure between 35 and 60 bars, compress a volume of air to play the role of valve springs.
The air circuit which connects all the valves operates in a closed vacuum, but because of the inevitable micro leaks it is maintained under pressure by a bottle of compressed air at 300 bars.
The slightest malfunction in the system results in the non-recall of a valve which will then say hello to the piston...
