Taking stock of a season which placed him only seventeenth in the championship, Aleix Espargaró declared himself angry and regretted that Aprilia had not brought its RS-GP to the level of the hopes he had placed in it. A new motorcycle with interesting potential. In response, the manufacturer, through engineer Romano Albesiano, clarified that his driver was not a model of satisfaction either.
Between Aleix Espargaró and his employee Aprilia, there is a difference in approach when drawing conclusions from a 2020 season which was once again complicated. Technically, the new motorcycle marked progress in the line of RS GP. However, there is still a long way to go. Politically, the affair Iannone has undermined sports development and management. And for Aleix Espargaró, more needs to be done in the Noale workshops. But among the latter, we ask the driver to also raise his level of play...
For the moment, the exchange is polite, even if the two points of view face each other. Aleix Espargaró gave his version of the 2020 season. It is now the turn ofAprilia which reminds us that the Spaniard fell to 12 opportunities this year. He is on the podium of figures imposed by gravity, behind Alex Marquez who fell 14 times and Johann zarco which has one more accident than the official Honda.
« He started the season with high expectations. Maybe the expectations were too high. That’s why he put extra pressure on himself. He made more mistakes than expected ", said the Aprilia race director Romano Albesiano à motogp.com.
But immediately, the same Albesian calms the debates: “ it's part of the game. He's incredible. We love him because he is so fast and he is always very motivated ". And anyway, Aprilia can’t count on anyone else…” Aleix is our best driver. It is incredibly fast and can 100% come out of the machine. He is our reference », explains the technical director ofAprilia.
Aprilia makes do with what it has
Due to the suspension for dopingAndrea Iannone, Aprilia had to improvise before the start of the season. Bradley Smith occupied the saddle of the RS-GP, but was replaced by Lorenzo Savadori in the final races.
« Bradley had to replace Andrea. He had to act as a test pilot at the same time. So it wasn't easy for him. But he did well ", said Albesian on English. “ He contributed a lot to the development of motorcycles. His performances often matched those of Aleix. It means a lot. We are very satisfied with its performance ».
« At the end of the season we made the decision to give Lorenzo Savadori a chance. He did very well at the Italian Championship. He did a fantastic job. It wasn't against Bradley. We wanted to give Lorenzo a chance to improve, to develop to be prepared for the tests and maybe also the races to come ", Explain Albesian on the decision to replace Smith by Savadori, which arrived after the Briton was a bit critical of the speed of development of the RS-GP by Aprilia.
In 2021, Aprilia will undoubtedly have to do with its current riders because all those that the manufacturer approached, veterans or young hopefuls, refused the offer of what still remains an official MotoGP project. But even the team Gresini which houses the RS-GP has decided to continue its path in Grand Prix until 2026 by leaving the Piaggio group brand outside its box...
