Aleix Espargaró will have wondered until the end of the Jerez tests why he remained so mobilized on his RS-GP. During the two days in Valencia, he bitterly regretted not seeing the slightest new thing to eat with his Aprilia and during the same period in Jerez, he was on the same portage. This is to better emphasize his impatience to discover a 2020 opus which will revolutionize everything…
Aleix Espargaró was valiant throughout the 2019 season with his Aprilia, but the start of the 2020 offseason may have been too much mobilization for the older brother of an official Pol KTM. Following up on his views already stated in Valencia, the Spaniard commented: “ everything will change, the test with this bike therefore makes no sense. » However, the idea was perhaps more to test the men than the bike: “ unfortunately, we didn't have anything new to test. The first day I did a lot of laps working on the electronics. Because in this area, we have two new engineers and they are an important part of the team. We tried different configurations and ideas, but unfortunately no innovation. »
Aleix Espargaró was only 58 thousandths slower than his teammate Andrea Iannone with his personal Jerez test time of 1m38,500, placing him 14th in the combined time, just behind the Italian. Furthermore, he was 1s369 behind the best time achieved by the Yamaha official, Maverick Vinales : " we couldn't do much. The Valencia test was completely useless. I think it doesn't make sense to try on this track because it is so special. What you try in Valencia is not useful elsewhere, and it is very different in Jerez. It's a very, very difficult and more important track. Everything you try here works normally on the rest of the circuits. »
A general situation at Aprilia which makes Aleix all the more impatient to discover the 2020 opus of the RS-GP: “ the plan is that we will have the new bike in February during the Malaysia test, and I can't wait, because it looks very promising. With the current version we cannot go further, so a revolution was necessary. It is also very different. I don't know if it will be as clear from the outside, but inside everything is new. »
« It is not yet known if we will get the full version of the new engine in Malaysia, it will be very different from the current concept. In addition, the chassis, electronics and driver position also differ. It's just a small change everywhere, but it affects all areas “, said Aleix.
The man with 249 Grand Prix finishes: “ of course we know what we want to achieve, but we will see to what extent the engineers were able to realize our wishes. It is not so easy. I can't wait to try it and if necessary even on an airport runway! » For a new flight, this will indeed be the place.
Tuesday results:
Results of the two days of testing in Jerez:
