The final round of MotoGP saw a long race of real terror for the Aprilia riders, and Aleix Espargaro was no exception. He admitted that the manufacturer had tried to solve the problem of the bike’s heat, even though it’s not always possible to do so in the best way in the current climate and with the tight rules. He also praised Maverick Viñales for his physical condition, but pointed out that even that «didn’t help» his teammate to finish the race.
After the problem that occurred last sunday in MotoGP, where Aleix admitted to having the most difficult race of his life due to the extreme discomfort and malaise caused by the heat emanating from the motorbike, the spaniard spoke about the team’s attempts to solve the problem, but recalled that in the current scenario… it’s not easy:
– The engineers have worked hard over the last few days. You have to realise that it’s not easy at the moment because of the rules, and with the fairing like this it’s difficult to change things. Romano [Albesiano] and the engineers have worked very hard but I’m not sure we’ve found a solution and I think we’ll find out today if we can change anything for sunday.
The #41 recalled afterwards that this problem was nothing new: ‘They know it’s not the first year we’ve had this problem. I did my best and the race in Thailand was horrible but this can’t happen again, it was very, very dangerous and I hope there can be a solution or that the rain will help us on sunday’.
On whether this aspect, from the point of view of rider safety, could be something to review in the future, Espargaro replied: ‘Maverick wasn’t able to finish, I was… well, where’s the limit if I’ve finished?! Maverick is very strong. He trains hard and is one of the fittest riders in the paddock but he wasn’t able to finish and I did. I’m not saying I’m Superman, I’m saying I was over the limit, 100 per cent, but it’s difficult to define where to put the limit, but in Thailand it was for me…’.