The Aprilia rider once again had a complicated weekend and was unable to finish the race. However, this time the mistake came from him.
Aleix Espargaró arrived at the Barcelona Grand Prix extremely motivated for his home Grand Prix which means a lot to him and where he is always keen to achieve a good result on Sunday.
The testing sessions were a bit complicated, however. First eleventh in FP1 then nineteenth in FP2, he finished thirteenth in FP3 and was unable to automatically qualify for Q2. After a seventeenth place in FP4, he finally finished sixteenth in qualifying, before learning that he was penalized three places on the grid for dangerous driving after hindering Jorge Lorenzo on track.
The Spaniard, however, explained that he was positive at the time of departure: “We made some significant changes in the RS-GP compared to yesterday and, to be honest, I felt a lot better, both during the Warm Up and in the race. » Indeed, he finished eleventh in the Warm Up, his best result of the weekend.
He also got a good start and gained places but unfortunately fell after four laps: “Everything was compromised by qualifying and the penalty received. I started really far and immediately recovered a lot of places, but unfortunately I then crashed stupidly in a corner where I didn't think I could fall. This has been one of my toughest weekends. Normally I am able to be competitive on this track, but that was not the case this time. »
With this fifth blank result of the season, Aleix Espargaró is starting to find the time is long. Of course, this time the fault lies with him, but it is the first time since the problems have always been technical or human: “Tomorrow’s test will be fundamental for us. We need to change some things in terms of settings in order to get out of this complicated period. »
Race ranking:
1 25 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team Ducati 165.6 40'13.566
2 20 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 165.3 +4.479
3 16 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 165.2 +6.098
4 13 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 164.9 +9.805
5 11 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 164.9 +10.640
6 10 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 164.8 +10.798
7 9 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 164.7 +13.432
8 8 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 164.6 +15.055
9 7 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Angel Nieto Team Ducati 164.1 +22.057
10 6 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 163.9 +24.141
11 5 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 163.1 +36.560
12 4 45 Scott REDDING GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 163.0 +38.229
13 3 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Angel Nieto Team Ducati 160.2 +1'21.526
14 2 21 Franco MORBIDELLI ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 139.1 3 Tours
Unclassified
55 Hafizh SYAHRIN MAL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 164.3 4 Tours
53 Tito RABAT SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 164.3 6 Tours
43 Jack MILLER AUS Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 164.3 7 Tours
38 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 162.8 11 Tours
30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 162.8 11 Tours
42 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 156.9 13 Tours
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 164.8 16 Tours
10 Xavier SIMEON BEL Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 160.4 17 Tours
41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 161.1 20 Tours
12 Thomas LUTHI SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 159.1 21 Tours
50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 155.5 22 Tours
Did not finish the 1st round
36 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0 Tour
