Aleix Espargaro : I’m Always Late Adapting to the Track

RiderTua.com – Aleix Espargaro failed to enter Q2 at the Portuguese GP after a crash on Friday afternoon and was exacerbated by a yellow flag, leaving him only in 14th position, 0.755 seconds adrift of the top position (Enea Bastianini). However, Aprilia factory riders are confident in the performance of the 2024 RS-GP amidst the challenges of the roller-coaster layout in dusty Portimao.

Aleix explained, “The bike was working well. This was my mistake. Today I wasn’t riding brilliantly, but overall the bike was fine. I was always late adapting to the track. Then I had the worst moment, when I had a small crash. Then I on the second bike, I went super fast the first time and then there was a yellow flag for (Franco) Morbidelli and I didn’t have any more time.”

Aleix Espargaro : I’m always late adapting to the track

Aleix Espargaro added, “Our rear lost a bit of grip, especially with the medium (race) tire. But there is still time to improve the bike and tomorrow’s track will improve a lot. However, I think tomorrow I will be close to the top riders. But I have to go through “Q1. Getting into qualifying 2 straight away is always difficult, because there are at least 14-15 very fast riders. So Q1 will be fun to watch. I think we can qualify but it won’t be easy.”

The bad luck that befell Espargaro made his teammate Maverick Vinales become the top Aprilia rider by occupying 7th place, losing 0.354 seconds to the fastest rider Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo). Otherwise, Vinales and Trackhouse team rider Miguel Oliveira (17th on Friday) will have difficulty adapting to the higher downforce and revised balance of the 2024 Aprilia bike.

Aleix Espargaro admits that he has an old-school ‘body-on-the-bike’ racing style, rather than an extreme tilt so that the body comes off the bike with the elbows facing down (elbow down).

Previously, the oldest rider on the MotoGP grid revealed that he often enjoyed better acceleration than his brand colleagues. When pressed to reveal what benefits his racing style offers, Aleix explained,  that in the last 2 years together with Romano (Albesiano) and the engineers, they tried to analyze the benefits and disadvantages of this type of racing style. And that has quite an impact on the tires. On some tracks it’s good but on others it’s not as good.

He added that it was not a technician, but one of the instrumental people that Aleix had on the team was (test rider) Matteo Biacocco. He analyzes everything, makes videos to compare racing styles. So the team talked about this a lot. And in many ways, Espargaro has a big advantage, more than people think, added the 34-year-old rider.

Although Aleix’s recent performance improvements have been thought to be linked to MotoGP’s increased downforce, it remains unclear why his style works so well on the latest aero-dripping machines.

Aleix said that currently, according to him, riders don’t need to force their bikes to lean too much (down low) to the asphalt because today’s bikes have a lot of downforce, so the bikes are easier to ride. So if the rider shifts a little weight in some places (by riding the bike more), the pressure on the tires will decrease. So this is not the most beautiful racing style, but it is effective, said the father of twins Max and Mia.

But Aleix Espargaro is not saying that other teams need to try and use a similar style. Whether he considers it very difficult for other people or not he doesn’t know. In the last few seasons, Aleix has had many strong riders beside him. And he can say that he is a hard worker and whatever he wants, but at the end of the day a rider has to move fast. “And I’m very fast. And I’m grateful to have Raul, Miguel and Maverick this year, because they’re very talented. And we’re often the fastest. So that means my riding style isn’t so bad!” concluded Aleix Espargaro with a smile.