Far from the battle for the top positions in the championship, Aleix Espargaró enters the Asian leg of the MotoGP season with the expectation of improving compared to 2022. The Indian GP this weekend marks the beginning of a particularly intense and decisive period for the final standings.
The Spanish rider stated in a press conference that he expects good levels of grip, also admitting that it’s challenging to determine whether the track will be favorable to Aprilia or not: ‘It’s really difficult to understand if it’s going to favour us or not. Obviously, the long straights aren’t really the best for us but then there are a lot of fast corners where I think we can take profit of it. About the grip, it’s gonna be really important. We have a couple of engineers that have been working for Ferrari in Formula 1 in the past when they raced here, and they told me that this circuit had grip more than any other track on the calendar in Formula 1. It looks like it isn’t really that damaged so eventhough it’s been a while since Formula One left, I think after some laps the grip will be good’.
Asked about the fact that the Asian leg of the calendar was challenging for him in 2022, Espargaró said he hopes for improvement, although he is aware of the difficulties: ‘Hopefully. It was a complete disaster last season, all the overseas races. We tried to analyse everything and improve everything. It’s gonna be very demanding. Eight races in ten weeks is crazy, it sounds crazy. It’s gonna be very important to try to be focused but at the same time try to be relaxed and to have some fun. It’s going to be important to have fun with your team; if somebody can bring family and friends because it’s gonna be tough mentally’.