ALEIX ESPARGARÓ FORCED TO RETIRE WHILE BATTLING FOR A TOP-10 SPOT
The entire Silverstone weekend was conditioned by physical problems for Aleix Espargaró, suffering from an injury that in any case did not keep the Spanish rider and his Aprilia RS-GP from proving once again to be competitive. Despite the few laps turned during practice, the number 41 Aprilia rider’s performance was excellent, as is confirmed by the spot on the third row earned in qualifying.
Unfortunately, the Spaniard had to deal with the pain during the race and that penalised him particularly in the early phase. With a full fuel tank, Aleix had difficulty in the quick direction changes that are so typical of the English track. Lap by lap the situation improved, so much that the Spanish rider was riding his RS-GP into an unhoped-for top-10 spot. The technical problem that stopped him just a few turns from the end does not overshadow the good performance demonstrated at Silverstone, both in terms of the rider’s immense efforts and the speed of the Italian bike.
Sam Lowes’ race ended early after a crash which was harmless, but enough to force him to abandon his home GP.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“It was a difficult weekend. Yesterday, even turning just a few laps, we showed that we can be fast. Today, especially early on in the race with a heavy fuel tank, I really struggled. Despite this, we were about to get into the top-10, which would have been a good result considering my physical conditions. I still don’t know what happened. I saw an alarm on the dashboard and the engine switched off. It’s a pity because these problems have cost us some good chances. Now I want to rest and be at 100% fitness for Misano.”
SAM LOWES
“Obviously this was not the home GP that I had expected. The team did a brilliant job and the fans were fantastic. Unfortunately, in the race I made a mistake on turn 5. It was a low speed crash. I checked the telemetry data and the differences compared to the previous lap were really minimal. It’s frustrating, but I am looking toward the coming races. We still have 6 more chances to improve. It’s a pity for Aleix too because he definitely deserved a good result today.”
ROMANO ALBESIANO – APRILIA RACING MANAGER
“First of all I would like to compliment Aleix. Today he was nothing less than heroic and he would have deserved a top-10 finish. Unfortunately there was a problem with the bike’s electronics that switched off the engine and we are still investigating the cause. This weekend was definitely peculiar due to Aleix’s critical physical conditions, but in terms of performance, we saw excellent signs of competitiveness.”
FAUSTO GRESINI – TEAM MANAGER
“Today Aleix rode a great race. Given the problems, he really hung in there and he would have deserved the result. We need to improve, that much is certain, but it is also true that we are not particularly lucky. Unfortunately, when you are in a development phase where you also find yourself testing things in the race, problems can be encountered. I am comforted by the fact that, despite the physical and technical problems, we once again demonstrated good performance.”
