How many mouths is Aleix Espargaró covering this season, starting with mine. Not so long ago that phrase of his from last year generated laughter in many, assuring that he felt one of the three best in MotoGP and now he is giving an exhibition at the Catalan GP. The Aprilia rider led the morning’s FP3 with a track record at Motnmeló, was once again the fastest in FP4 and did not fail to fight for pole, achieving the second of the season for him and for again smashing the record of the Catalan route.
The pressure is maximum around the rider from Granollers, but he manages it as if he had 400 pole positions behind him instead of four: Assen 2014, Montmeló 2015, Termas 2022 and Montmeló 2022. The Catalan GP is coming out similar to that of the Argentine GP, where Aleix signed his first world championship victory at the age of 32, Starting from pole position, in an appointment in which Marc Márquez was not out, like here, with high temperatures and asphalt with little grip, also like at the Circuit.
In addition, there is the circumstance that among the competition it is assumed that the winner in this scenario has to be the oldest of the Espargaró and that the rest of the grid competes for second place. The theory says that and another thing will be to translate the clear favoritism into victory when the moment of truth arrives. The good thing for him and for the many who want his triumph is that He has already shown this year that he knows how to do it, and that in this ninth appointment of the course he already has half the work done.
The one who has sold the most expensive skin in the battle of Q2 has been Francesco Bagnaia. With Aleix already waiting for the Ducati race to finish, on his last attempt he came in a red helmet after the third set, but lost a few precious thousandths in the fourth and stayed 0.031 behind the poleman, who with his 1:38.742 set a new record which will be the reference when MotoGP comes back here next season, because in tomorrow’s race they won’t even come close to that record.
Aleix, who will start for his fifth consecutive podium, will not be worth anything else this time other than the victory at home. In Mugello he was penalized for starting seventh to fight with her and had to settle for a good third place, behind Pecco and Fabio Quartararo, who will be his front-row teammates here, in that order. With the Frenchman, in addition to the victory or the podium, the leadership will also be at stake, because the Yamaha rider is at the top of the general standings with an eight-point advantage over the Aprilia rider. What a duel they have this year, and what they have left…
Zarco, Di Giannantonio and Martín will start from the second row. From the third, Rins, Maverick and Marini. And from the fourth, Pol, Miller and Nakagami. Further back Mir will start 17th (unknown) and Fernández 24th.
And one last thought about Aleix and his extraordinary state of form and that of his Aprilia… That his RS-GP is going great is obvious, because there are no supermen here, but the difference is made by Mia’s father, the one dedicated to him by the pink helmet he’s wearing this weekend, too. On Aleix’s fastest lap, two from the end, his teammate Maverick got caught in his wheel and, what should have been a divine help for Mack, didn’t work out because he couldn’t keep up with his push. On the next turn, a little further, he had a second chance, but that lap was not good for either of them because Aleix slipped in. From there to the end, the poleman he waited for Bagnaia to complete his last lap, which he followed from the monitors surrounding the track, to later celebrate the success achieved, an appetizer of what could be tomorrow’s great banquet, winning the home race.