It's a disgruntled Aleix Espargaró against Johann Zarco who concludes his season at the end of a Portuguese Grand Prix enhanced by an honorable eighth position on his Aprilia. Between the Espargaró brothers and the Frenchman, the dispute is not new and it has been exacerbated since Brno, the day of the race where the Avintia rider and Pol, the KTM official, had trouble in their fight for the podium. Since then, the double Moto2 World Champion has been particularly observed by his siblings, and it was Aleix, the eldest, who stepped up to the plate in Portimao…
What we can be certain of is that Johann zarco and the brothers I will espargaro will not spend the offseason together. HAS Portimao, Aleix recalled that there was a chill between his name and the Frenchman, and he addressed it on two occasions, so that there was no doubt about his resentment towards the tricolor .
It started when, at the end of FP4, Johann zarco crossed the track to return to his box on the handlebars of his Ducati smoking. A maneuver likely to be sanctioned, but which the race management assessed leniently, since not a drop of oil had escaped from the injured GP19. A way of understanding the scene which was not to the Spaniard's taste: “ another great job from the Race Direction, which does not penalize a rider who crosses the track with the engine of his motorcycle broken and an oil leak », commented the Aprilia official on his social network.
Once again good job of race direction by not putting any sanction to a MotoGP rider after crossing the track with broken engine smiking oil… Incredible!
— Aleix Espargaro (@AleixEspargaro) November 21, 2020
Like a fixation
Then there was the race. The opportunity to bring it up again during the press conference. According to statements collected by Motorsport.com, the driver Aprilia thus once again accused zarco, insisting that it is customary for irresponsible behavior on the track. “ When the motorcycle blows smoke, you don't know where it comes from. The problem is that Zarco never learns. In the race, he hit two drivers in front of me, it's incredible ».
« I have nothing against it, but if you see smoke coming out of the bike, you can't cross the track in a corner in fourth gear, where people are coming full throttle at almost 200 kilometers per hour » commented the Spaniard, thus mixing the facts of Saturday with those he observed on Sunday…
He finishes : " if someone comes from behind and there is oil or water, this person can die. It's a question of responsibility. He doesn't care about anything that happens to the rest of the pilots, that's what makes me angry ". In passing, we will recall that the same Aleix Espargaró also had disagreements with his colleagues during this season. He was even punished for that...
MotoGP Portimao J3: classification
