Aleix: “It’s not as negative as it seems”

Aleix Espargaro He missed the Q1 cutoff and will start 13th on the grid at the Thai GP. Despite the Aprilia’s set-up problems, he doesn’t lose hope that something will happen.

-What is the reason why you have ended up so frustrated?

-I have the feeling that I am riding very well, that I am riding quite fast, because I have improved a lot in FP4 with the used tire, I have done 31.3 the last lap with twenty laps on the tire, which I think was not so bad, And I really had a good lap in qualifying, because I did just one fairly fast lap, and it made me very angry that I couldn’t pass by a tenth, but well, that’s how it is.

-I still had time to do a couple more laps in Q1. Why did he stay in the box?

-It was impossible. She had a practically perfect lap. With the rear we have zero traction and we use the front a lot when braking. I already had the first and second ‘run’ and I saw that it was impossible to lower the time. The 30.2 really was a very fast time.

Was he risking a fall if he continued?

-No, I wasn’t thinking about a crash, it’s that the bike was spinning and it wasn’t going forward. Actually, I didn’t care if I crashed because if you come in red in qualifying nothing happens, but the bike didn’t move.

-Is it a problem that you notice in general or especially in this circuit?

-It’s just here. In general we do not advance with the bike. He did an impressive spinning. We don’t have any traction and we’re running maps with very little power. I don’t know, it’s very strange what’s happening here and both riders are having the same problem. It’s a little frustrating.

– Is there any hypothesis that is being considered as a possible cause?

-No. After the meeting in the afternoon, the team said that it was a different carcass, and I told them: ‘don’t tell me again when I’m in front that the carcass is different, because it’s the same one that the other riders have, so it’s of course that factor is there’. They are casings that are not the ones we wear throughout the year and the bike makes a lot more ‘spin’, but we have to adapt, we are a factory and the others have adapted and go fast, so that is not worth it to me.

-What can you aspire to tomorrow with all the problems you have?

-The FP4 I have not been so slow because I have done 31.3. The best riders, Fabio, Pecco have done 31.0 or 31.1 which is two or three tenths of a second more. It’s not an abyss, but I have to drive perfectly all the time and I’m on the verge of… It will be a very difficult race for me, but I think it’s not as negative as it seems and besides, Fabio, Bezzecchi’s qualifying was nice up front , Pecco and Marc is also there and they are fast. Anything can happen in the race, it can rain, it can be ‘flag to flag’, so I don’t lose hope and we have to close the gap no matter what.

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-Are you going to wish during the night that the deluge falls tomorrow?

-The only thing I know for sure is that if it rains tomorrow it’s all or nothing. There have been races where I had to finish and get points but tomorrow if God gives us an opportunity with a ‘flag to flag’ or with rain we have to go flat out, because it’s one of the few options we have.

-How about overtaking here?

-It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be difficult because our motorcycle is not a Nasa missile and when you do so much spin accelerating you go against the motor, you are not helping it at all. Even bikes that have less power than us are capable of better traction. It’s happening this weekend and on the straight they run more than us, so it won’t be easy.

-The Ducati are that Nasa missile?

-They have done very well because not only do the bikes run but they have very good traction, all the riders go fast. Bezzecchi’s lap, Jorge’s lap (Martín), have been very good laps, also Pecco’s. They all go very fast, so when so many riders with such different styles, as braking as Bezzecchi, or other finer ones like Pecco, and they all go fast and all fight for pole, they have done a job very well done.

-How do you see Quartararo?

-For me it goes very fast and normally from Friday to Saturday it doesn’t improve much. I really like to analyze rhythms and as it starts on Friday you already see the idea a bit, but not here, here it has improved and it has taken a step forward from yesterday to today. With the intermediate tire, the 30.3 he did this morning seemed stratospheric. I’ve done 31.7 and they haven’t beaten me a second and a half on the same tire since I raced with the CRT, so it’s improved a lot, but tomorrow it won’t be an easy fight with the Ducati. That is the hope I have.

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