Sepang.- The rider from Aprilia managed to go directly to Q2, avoiding the trance of Q1 that he did have to suffer in Australia, especially thanks to the ‘help’ of Jorge Martín, who I caught wheeling both in FP3, and later in the official timed, in which, however, he suffered a fall that prevented him from obtaining a good classification.
Aleix Espargaró will start 10th on the grid, the only positive thing is that he will do so just behind Pecco Bagnaia (9th), and ahead of Fabio Quartararo (12th) who injured a hand, with whom the championship is still at stake.
“It was a shame because he was going fast behind Jorge Martín, he was at 0.0 in the second set, but the bike has no grip at all on this circuit and it’s costing us a lot. He was obviously over the limit”, explained Aleix to understand the fall.
“The direction has been closed to me. A pity because it would have helped a lot for the race to start in the first row, but, anyway, I have tried everything. We have improved a little today, but not enough”, lamented the third classified of the general, 13 points behind Quartararo and 27 behind Bagnaia, with whom he has no margin for error and must overcome in this Sunday’s race.
A career in which Aleix believes that the options can be marked by external factors.
“We will have to see the weather. If the race is dry, it will be hard in many ways, both for the tires and for the physical, it will be complicated, the bike gives off a lot of heat. It will be difficult to manage”, warned.
Aleix admits that he is a step below the Ducati in speed, but he has his own weapons.
“I don’t have a lot of speed, I’m not very fast, but I am quite constant with the pace of the race and I don’t destroy the tire. Hopefully I can maintain a good pace and get as many points as possible,” he set himself as a goal.
The only positive is that both Bagnaia and Quartararo have not achieved a good grid position either.
“A lot of mistakes have been made, there’s a lot of tension. The grid position isn’t super important for tomorrow. I have a feeling that even if Pecco starts late, he has a lot more pace, he’s going fast, he’s strong here. But you never know what he can do.” pass leaving in the middle of the peloton, so hopefully, at least, I can cut some points”, settled.
