Aleix had arrived in Malaysia quite confident and happy to have the brand new Aprilia RS-GP with the 4° V90 engine, even though the bike had never been ridden before being sent to Sepang.
During the shakedown, only Aprilia and KTM could field their permanent riders thanks to concessions, unlike Honda, Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki who then had to be content with running their test riders. Aleix Espargaró set the second time during these initial three days in 1'59.622, 0.178 behind the leader, his brother Pol (KTM, 1'59.444).
In this second test series, this time official with all the drivers, on the first day Aleix set the seventh time for Aprilia Racing Team Gresini in 1'59.427, 0.482 behind the leader. fabio quartararo and only 0.060 from sixth Maverick Vinales (Yamaha).
On Saturday, the leader of the Aprilia team progressed again and this is how he appeared in eleventh position in the combined standings after the first two days in 1'59.224, 0.652 behind Fabio Quartararo, and 0.108 behind tenth. Valentino Rossi.
On the third and final day, Aleix finally improved to 1'58.694, which gave him tenth position, 0.345 behind Quartararo, which was a small and impressive gap. Obviously, the new Aprilia was well born and seemed to go well with the new Michelin tires. Espargaró was ahead of people like Marc Márquez, Franco Morbidelli and Andrea Dovizioso, for example.
Aleix was trying to complete the distance of a race, to evaluate the behavior of the new RS-GP over time. The acceleration seemed perfect. The long distance attempt ended after twelve laps due to a technical problem (exhaust).
In the general classification of the three days, Aleix ranked tenth with his time of 1'58.694.
According to Aleix Espargaró, “I am absolutely satisfied and I would really like to thank everyone at Aprilia Racing who made it possible to put such a new and competitive bike on the track here. The 2020 RS-GP has improved in every aspect. It's a step forward that, frankly, almost surprised me. It is clear that there are many areas that we need to work on, but these are issues due to the young age of the project and not real shortcomings. At the end of the three days, I would have liked to be closer to the leaders with the soft tire, but with this type of tire I didn't feel it. On the other hand, in the race configuration, even with worn tires, I was extremely fast. We have to keep pushing because there are only a few weeks until the first race, but I'm leaving Malaysia with a smile. »
“I am satisfied with the work this Sunday. I was able to go a little faster with the soft tires, even if I actually expected to be able to get a little closer to a 1'58. »
“The race simulation was impressive, I had a little problem on lap 13 when an exhaust pipe broke and I had to stop, but I felt really good on the tires medium, racing tires. »
“I was very consistent on the pace, constantly in 1'59.5, often going even faster. Then, when there were about seven laps left at the end of the simulation, I felt the power drop more and more. I realized I had a problem with the exhaust and stopped. It's a shame because I felt really competitive and I think I could have been in 1'59 for the twenty laps, but the bike is very young so that's normal. »
“If we look at the pace and compare it with that of the Suzuki riders but also that of Quartararo, I was faster. I am very happy about it. In general I'm happy, I would have liked to be even closer to the top in terms of speed in the dry, but we're talking 3 tenths of the fastest, so I'm happy. »
“The techs weren't really convinced to let me try the long run, but in my opinion it was really important to understand how it would go from a temperature point of view on the bike and how I felt after several laps . Bradley worked on a lot of things during these tests, Lorenzo (Savadori) also did some of the work on the new bike. »
“Of course, having a fast driver like Andrea (Iannone) in the pits would have been different because it would have stressed the equipment even more and would have helped me more. But we know Andrea's problems at the moment, so I can only hope that he resolves everything and is there in Qatar. »
“If the race was here tomorrow, I think I could fight for the podium. I'm sure. But we don't race here for the next ten months. Now we have to go to another circuit and find out how the bike works, we have to see if it can finish races. Right now, every time I push for more than ten laps, something happens. It's not about being as fast as possible, it's about finishing races and, at the moment, that's our priority. But I think that with the times we achieved and with the pace we had during the simulation, we showed that the competitiveness is very high. »
“I would be very happy if we had two more months before the start of the season, because the bike is very fast, but the technicians need time to study the data and understand everything, even to make some changes. »
“I can't wait to test the bike on another circuit, also because I don't want to ride at Sepang again! (Laughs) I want to know how the bike behaves on a different track configuration and I generally feel good in Qatar. »
“Aprilia has done a great job but unfortunately these days we have had some small problems from time to time and I think that is the point they need to work on, because the first race is coming soon. »
“I would like to be the surprise in Qatar, I am very motivated. In acceleration here, we also lost two or three tenths of a second against the best bike from this point of view, the Ducati. But despite this, I managed to keep a faster pace than anyone else. You never know what might happen in Qatar, but for now I'm more than happy. »
“I love everything about this bike, it is much superior to the 2019 RS-GP and I can only be happy. We need to work on reliability. »
The fastest Aprilia during winter testing at Sepang last year was a 1'59.022 driven by Aleix Espargaró, seventh. Then during the Malaysian Grand Prix, the best qualified was that of Aleix who was positioned 14th on the grid in 1'59.435. The best time for an Aprilia in the race was 14th in 2'00.673, to the credit of Aleix.
Final standings of the third day of the MotoGP test at Sepang:
Credit ranking: MotoGP.com
Final ranking of the three days:
Rankings credit: MotoGP.com
Reference times:
Test record: 1'58.239 by Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) in February 2019
Official testing record: 1'58.303 by Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) in 2019
Lap record: 1'59.661 by Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) in 2019
Photos © motogp.com / Dorna, Michelin, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
