Although today’s tests in Jerez have not officially ended yet, there are approximately 10 minutes left until the end of the day and many riders have already concluded their day, such as Aleix Espargaró, currently fifth. Without revealing much about his work, he explained that he analyzed the competition.
When asked by the press about what he tested today and if he can reveal, the Spanish rider was quite clear: ‘I can’t talk about anything, honestly’, but when asked if what he tested was good or bad, he didn’t hesitate: ‘It was actually good. The positive thing that I can talk about is that I tried to change my position [on the bike] a bit, we analyzed the braking position of riders from other manufacturers based on videos and we noticed that we can move our body a bit. We tried it, and after a long time it’s difficult to adapt to a new position but… it works. I did almost 70 laps with this new position – more specifically 51 – trying to move my body a bit forward, to brake the bike a bit better and it works well. With the medium tire, I did many fast laps and I’m happy with that’.
If he tested anything from Michelin, the rider responded affirmatively: ‘I tested a different rear tire, a casing that they use when the conditions are really very hot. For me, it didn’t work, it was as if it had no grip at all but I think I was the first to test it so we have to wait for the comments from the others but for me, it was very different in terms of grip’.
About the braking issue, he continued: ‘Sometimes you can be a little crazy by changing the bike a millimeter up or down, tweaking the bike’s fork a bit or whatever, but in the end what makes the difference is the body and that’s what changes the tires, the maneuverability, the ability to lean and that’s what we tried today. I felt very comfortable and I was able to, even though I didn’t test the soft tire, but especially with the medium that gave me a lot of difficulties during the weekend I felt more grip besides the fact that the track itself has more grip, but I felt more competitive compared to others with the medium which is positive’.
