Gresini Racing » News MotoGP » ALEIX TO START FROM THE FIFTH ROW IN THE TERUEL GP

ALEIX TO START FROM THE FIFTH ROW IN THE TERUEL GP

24 October 2020

96 thousandths of a second in two sessions were enough to keep Aleix from the first four rows of the Teruel GP, the second race held at MotorLand de Aragón. An absurd gap that only makes the Aprilia camp more frustrated, an emotion mitigated by the good pace established during the practice sessions in view of the race.

In the morning FP3 session, a top-10 spot which would have pre-qualified him for Q2 slipped through the Catalan rider’s fingers by just 27 thousandths of a second. In Q1, on the other hand, just 69 thousandths relegated his spot on the starting grid to the fifth row in thirteenth place. A solid performance overall which lacked only a final conclusion.

ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“I’m usually not pleased with thirteenth place, but today is different. I was consistently fast, I have a good pace and in qualifying I also did an outstanding lap. It’s a pity about not going through to Q2 because, with this speed, I could have made a play for a spot on one of the front three rows. The starting position will force me to be very aggressive in the early laps, but if I’m able to stay with the leading group, I’ll be able to aim for a good race.”

BRADLEY SMITH
“On one hand, I’m pleased with the work we did in preparation for the race. Clearly, starting from that far back will not make life easy for me. We tried a lot of things and maybe that’s why we were unable to be incisive in qualifying. For tomorrow, we’ll analyse the data collected today and try to put together the best possible setup. I’ll also have a look at a few of Aleix’s laps, since he was rather fast, and I’ll use that to try and improve my riding style as well to make up a few tenths of a second.”