MotoGP Le Mans France J1: The best and the worst for Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia/14)

A weather condition which conditions the provisional classification is nothing new for the French Grand Prix which takes place this weekend on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans. The Sarthe circuit is in fact famous for the variability of atmospheric conditions, capable of sudden changes even during the same session.

Today, for the first day of MotoGP testing, this firstly benefited the two Aprilia riders who, on a wet but drying track which allowed them to switch to slick tires, were in the top 10, Aleix Espargaró finishing 10th, four places behind his teammate Lorenzo Savadori.

The times behind the leader Jack Miller were certainly very far apart, the slightly cold RS-GP driver being more than three seconds behind the Australian, but it was nonetheless a good result for Noale's men.

Things became notably complicated during the afternoon for Aleix Espargaró, who fell twice at the Dunlop chicane, fortunately only damaging his self-esteem.

After his promising start to the season, the eldest of the Espargaró brothers wants to keep the positive from this day but nevertheless expects a complicated Saturday.

Aleix I will espargaro : " A complicated day. I felt good straight away, fast even in the wet, and in FP2 I got off to a good start. However, the asphalt conditions were not ideal, we had to be a little careful and I slipped. I then left with the second bike, my least favorite, and I found the feeling to attack. Unfortunately the front tire was not up to temperature and I crashed again in turn 3. I brought the bike back to the pit box and the guys did an incredible job, getting me back on the track and ultimately of the day, to miss the top-10 by around two tenths. It makes no difference to me because I'm fast, and considering what happened, it still shows how competitive we are, even on this track and in these conditions. We are quite fast in the dry at Le Mans, so we could have a good race in such conditions. My level would be similar to Portimao and Jerez. But it certainly won't be a relaxing Saturday for me !»

During his debriefing, Aleix I will espargaro took the time to clarify: “ Aprilia has built a very strong test team over the last two years. Unfortunately, Andrea Dovizioso's two tests are useless to us because you cannot draw any conclusions from a test in the wet. Dovi is a very good pilot, but his testing hasn't given us any advantage so far. A third or fourth test with him would be positive, and I would be grateful for him to be able to test for us all season. »

FP2 ranking of the French MotoGP Grand Prix at Le Mans:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com