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GOOD RACE FOR ALEIX WITH A TOP-10 FINISH IN VALENCIA

15 November 2020

It was an encouraging ninth place in today’s race for Aleix Espargaró, skilfully battling in the hot zones of the standings in the early stages and able to maintain his pace for the rest of the race, all the way to the chequered flag. This is a result that restores confidence and optimism to Aleix and the team in light of the competitiveness demonstrated throughout the weekend and considering the great progress that this young project, in its first season, has shown even in this race, compared to last season. In fact, Espargaró finished 15.5 seconds behind the winner, more than 17 seconds better than the 2019 race and despite the fact that Aleix stopped pushing hard in the final two laps.

Lorenzo Savadori finished his first MotoGP race and this, in and of itself, is cause for the young Italian rider to be satisfied. His lack of confidence and experience in the early laps generated a gap that was difficult to close, although Lorenzo’s times in the second part of the race were still interesting.

ALEIX ESPARGARO’

“A top-10 finish today is definitely a good result, especially because we were ahead of fast and very competitive riders. However, I must be honest and say that I expected more. During practice I am able to do good laps and in qualifying, risking a lot, I can take the RS-GP close to the leaders, but over race distance, it is more difficult to stay consistently at the limit. In the early laps I also lost a few tenths because, mindful of my crash in the last race, I managed a bit without risking. In any case, this is clearly the right direction for me and for Aprilia.”

LORENZO SAVADORI
“More miles and more information gathered, which I hope will help us for the final race in Portimão. If we look at my pace, I almost made up the entire gap that developed in the early stages. Apparently I am still lacking the right confidence with a full tank to push straight away like the others do. In any case, I am still satisfied. Without knowing the bike and track, I was able to improve every time I went out. A week from now I expect to take another step forward.”