RiderTua.com – The Portuguese MotoGP started with difficulties and not the best for veteran rider Aleix Espargaro. The Aprilia rider blamed track conditions as the cause. In FP1 he finished twentieth, while his teammate Maverick Vinales was second. In the afternoon Aleix also only finished fourteenth and fell ten minutes before the end of the session. Even though he had a complicated day, this Aprilia rider tried to stay relaxed.
Aleix Espargaro commented on how he experienced his first pre-race session in a light but ironic tone. “I feel more like a cyclist who rides at the weekend for fun. This Friday was definitely not my day. Plus, I have to admit that my performance wasn’t the best. I was constantly lagging behind, finding grip too late and ended up crashing. Then there was a race with the second bike and Morbidelli’s yellow flag. It was as if everything was against me. But I remain confident for Saturday’s race, hoping to do even better,” said Maverick Vinales‘ teammate.
Aleix Espargaro : Dirty Tracks Make Everything More Difficult
A day that risks sacrificing the second round of MotoGP 2024, everything will be played in Q2 to try to achieve a good starting position. The Iberia circuit is friendly to RS-GP, as shown by the results of previous years. All these things make him remain confident. “I’ve put myself in a difficult situation, but this weekend is far from over. There are always fast riders, that’s what makes this championship so challenging and everything depends on 0.001 seconds. One drop and everything can change.”
In Thursday’s press conference, Aleix Espargaro indicated Portimao as the worst track on the MotoGP calendar in terms of safety. He pointed his finger at iPhone-sized pebbles in some parts of the circuit, but that wasn’t his only flaw. The dirty asphalt made things very difficult.. “No one seemed to find grip, so many fell. In my opinion, it was a pointless Friday. The track was really dirty. We can’t send the premier class to a track covered in dust. It’s 2024, there has to be a technological solution to clean the runway effectively. I remember at our first race in America, they used airplane turbines to dry the track in ten minutes. The time has come to apply similar technology here too.”
