Aprilia, along with Suzuki, is one of the six manufacturers entered in MotoGP to return empty-handed from the French Grand Prix. However, if the Japanese brand regretted seeing its two riders on the ground, those of the RS-GP lamented on the contrary a betrayal of their bike. Noale's machines in fact stopped all service before the finish line of a race where there was a good chance to play. Both Aleix Espargaró and Lorenzo Savadori, whose talent was revealed in the rain during qualifying, were as if stunned by this twist of fate...
Si Andrea Dovisioso watched the last Grand Prix of France, he will be able to say that there is work to be done on the reliability of the RS GP. Both, in fact, could not stand the rain at Le Mans and successively abandoned their driver to their sad fate. Aleix Espargaró by being truly sorry: “ I am very frustrated ", declared the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini driver after his first zero points this year. “ I hadn't had the problem of not being able to rely on my bike for a long time, but it was still a difficult weekend. I already had problems with the engine on Saturday and I crashed twice ».
The race in flag to flag format was, however, an opportunity for the outsider manufacturer: “ I felt very good during the first four or five laps in the dry. When the rain fell, I caught up with Marc and Nakagami. Rins was a little faster than me, he was already third or fourth. The rain made me very angry and I lost a few places on the first rainy lap. But I was able to catch up after changing bikes. I made up a few places when I got Valentino, Lecuona, Petrucci, my brother, Viñales and so on, in just two laps! For some reason I felt very strong in the wet for the first time in many years ».
« But then I was eliminated, and it's a shame. It would have been very important to take the points for fifth or sixth place. It would have been easy to do here at Le Mans. And that would have been helpful for my world championship situation, because many other drivers around me made mistakes. We had a good chance of leaving Le Mans with around fifty points in the general classification.. It would have been a great result after five races ».
Aprilia leaves France with zero points
But the Aprilia RS-GP21 let the Spaniard down after 16 of 27 laps. His teammate Lorenzo Savadori was not more varnished: “ I also can't say if Lorenzo had the same technical problem as me » said the eldest I will espargaro. And what does the Italian think? “ At the start I lost a bit of ground due to contact with another rider, then when the rain came I changed bikes and immediately tried to close the gap. I was doing it, I was riding well, but a technical problem forced me to abandon. However, it was an important weekend for me, I faced these conditions for the first time in MotoGP and I continued to grow. The latter remains my main objective ».
It is now expected thatAleix I will espargaro going to have surgery for compartment syndrome. But after this berezina in Sarthe, he asks himself questions: “ after this number zero, it's a difficult decision to have an operation now, because this procedure is not easy. I lost a lot of points here that I have to make up for in Mugello. I have to show a strong run there. It's hard to say if I would be stronger there without surgery shortly before. I fear we will suffer again after Mugello. I have my doubts. At the same time, I don't want to put the story off forever. This is why I will most likely have an operation ". The Italian Grand Prix is scheduled for May 31. And Aleix Espargaró had surgery!
MotoGP France Le Mans J3: classification
Credit classification motogp.com
