Aleix Espargaró is one of those drivers who were delighted with this first Grand Prix of the season in Qatar and who have established themselves as values to be reckoned with. Maybe not yet for the title race, but as a spoilsport, certainly. While Ducati in red, Yamaha in all colors and, less seriously, Suzuki, were thinking about what they had missed, Honda, KTM and therefore also Aprilia with its veteran rider were rubbing their hands. The 32-year-old Spaniard just wants to get back on the Mandalika trail in less than ten days to confirm all these great arrangements...
Car Aprilia, its driver and the RS-GP have never been at such a party. One only has to see the very different fate of a Maverick Vinales, teammate ofAleix Espargaro, to understand that there is still work to be done to convince over an entire season. But the brother of Pol against whom he fought to win the last step of the podium at Losail is ready to take these passing exams to convince: “ every weekend will be an exam for Aprilia “he assures. " We must reconfirm the best work. But we did it in testing in Malaysia, testing in Indonesia, and here in Qatar, I think we had a good weekend. I was alone with the bike during qualifying and only lost 0,2 seconds on pole. Then there was the race, and I think it was one of the strongest. Unfortunately the start wasn't that good, so I lost time and I couldn't win, but yes, finish second or third. But races are like that. I really had a lot of fun ».
He adds : " it's a pleasure to be able to fight with the best guys, to have the weapons to fight. This is the first time in my career that I feel like I have them, so it's going to be a good season. The thing is that the sensations I had in the race were the first time in my life that I had them. I felt like I was the strongest in terms of pace, but maybe I was too conservative with the laps I did behind Marc Marquez and Joan Mir. I didn't expect them to drop the pace like that, so I lost almost a full second with Joan and almost a full second with Marc ».
Aleix Espargaró has a model and it's Andrea Dovizioso
« But anyway, I was able to do this quick lap and catch up with the group, but I was still too late and was one lap short of catching up with my brother. It's pretty good for the first race, but the most important thing is the pace we kept. I did a lot of laps in 1m54s which was incredible. We saw that the level was incredible, the race was very fast, and I am very happy to say that we were one of the strongest there » he rejoices before concluding with Todocircuito : " it seems that as I am not a top rider who has not won much and the Aprilia has not won any championships. At the start of the campaign, I think we have taken another small step, we are not here to win the world championship, but the bike is not far away, we have to take it step by step ».
An approach that he takes in the name of a model that he cites: “ since I arrived at Aprilia I have always said that my role model was Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati, the work they've done since the beginning many years ago, and I think that's what I'm doing. I am very proud of the work I do with Aprilia”.
