This Thursday, May 26, 2022, Aleix Espargaró answered questions from journalists from the Mugello circuit ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
A day to be marked with a white stone since it symbolizes, with the announcement of his renewal for two years, recognition of the work accomplished by the Catalan. The icing on the cake, Noale brings him some goodies to try to take command of the championship in Tuscany against a fabio quartararo who only has a lead of four points!
As usual, we report here the words of Alex Espargaró without any formatting, even if it is translated from English.
At the press conference, the eldest brother said: “ Yes, we have some new features. We have a new engine for this weekend, and we also have some pretty important aerodynamic elements. I think I won't be the first to test them tomorrow, maybe it will be Sava (Lorenzo Savadori) in the test team. But it looks promising and I'm going to try it tomorrow afternoon. I hope it can give us a few tenths to fight for first place. »
Aleix I will espargaro then launched into a comparison between the Ducati engine and that of his Aprilia RS-GP: “ The Aprilia's engine is fast, it's good! We will see if it is enough to keep up with the Ducatis, or even to overtake them. If we compare with the Yamahas, we know that we have an advantage, and if we compare with the Ducatis I think we have to improve a little. Let's see if the improvements we make here are enough to be the equivalent of the best engines in the world, but we're not far away! But honestly, top speed isn't the most important thing in the world. Of course it's better to have a good top speed than not to have one, but the proof is that Fabio won last year from pole position with a slower bike. So yes, it's very important, especially here because if you make a bad start it's almost impossible to overtake the Ducatis, but you also need to have good traction and good acceleration, because I would say Mugello is the circuit the most difficult in the world, very very technical. So it's not just about top speed. »
After ten seasons spent chasing recognition in MotoGP, the Mugello/Barcelona period was intense for the 32-year-old rider who was almost at his goal: “ Yes, it means more pressure, but that's okay. These are two very important races for us. Mugello is very important for Aprilia, I am very happy to ride in Italy this way, with good results. We're leading the teams' championship for the first time in Italy for Aprilia, so that's fantastic and next week will be my home GP. They are two very important races, but it only represents 50 points, no more than Germany and Assen, for example, so I try to work in the same way as the previous weekends. I have the same feeling as Fabio, that the first laps of the race will be very, very important, especially against the fast Ducati here at Mugello with the long straight. So trying to be focused from the first round tomorrow morning will be very, very important. »
As for the postponement of the Finnish Grand Prix, Aleix Espargaro adopts the same circumspection as his little comrades: “ Not much to say. It would have been nice to go to a new country, it would have been nice to experience a new circuit, and I always enjoy going to a new circuit, it's good. But if they postpone it, the only positive thing is that we will have a longer summer break. »
