Gresini Racing » News MotoGP » GOOD QUALIFIERS FOR ALEIX ESPARGARÓ WHO TAKES A SPOT ON THE THIRD ROW IN THE ASSEN GP

GOOD QUALIFIERS FOR ALEIX ESPARGARÓ WHO TAKES A SPOT ON THE THIRD ROW IN THE ASSEN GP

26 June 2021

THE APRILIA RS-GP CONFIRMS ITS SPEED ON DIFFERENT TRACKS AND IN DIFFERENT CONDITIONS

LORENZO SAVADORI ALSO IMPROVES – AMONG THE BEST IN Q1 AND ON THE FIFTH ROW OF THE STARTING GRID TOMORROW

A protagonist from the morning on Saturday, Aleix Espargaró went through to Q2 yet again, taking fourth in the combined free practice standings thanks to a run of 1’32.747 at the end of FP3. Aleix further improved on his time in qualifying (1’32.666), but he would have been able to do better if he had felt more confident on the second soft tyre, put on for the final and decisive attack. He finished ninth, taking a good spot on the third row at the end of two days that reiterated his outstanding fitness and the natural ease with which he manages to place his RS-GP among the best.

We are approaching the middle of the championship season and the Aprilia prototype has confirmed that it is at ease on different tracks and in different conditions.

This is a comforting situation that has also benefitted Lorenzo Savadori who, finally on a familiar circuit, stayed consistently in the top ten and, with his fifth-place time in Q1 (at 1’33.258), earned a spot on the fifth row for the Dutch race. This is his best starting position since his début in MotoGP, despite a harmless crash during the FP4 session.

ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“I wasn’t particularly brilliant in qualifying. I am unable to make the difference with the soft rear, but we are very competitive in terms of pace. I was fast and consistent in both FP3 and FP4. I don’t see a lot of riders wit a better pace, although things could shift in the race tomorrow. Starting from the ninth spot is never simple, but I expect a rather compact group, where it will be possible to battle for an important result. A good start will be fundamental in order to make up some positions straight away, whereas I’ll have to save my energy a bit over race distance. These bikes are rather physical to ride with a lot of load, especially on a track with this type of layout.”

LORENZO SAVADORI
“Qualifying didn’t go too badly, although we are not as incisive as I’d like to be on the first sector. On the rest of the track, on the other hand, I’m able to be pretty competitive, but with such narrow gaps, we need to get close to perfection. The crash in FP4 was similar in dynamics to the one on the Sachsenring. In fact, we were trying the same change to the bike’s geometry. For the race, we’ll obviously take a step back in this regard, also trying to recover a bit on T1 because we have the potential to finish in the points.”