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may 03, 2021 - Aprilia Racing

SPAIN GP: ANOTHER GREAT RACE FOR ALEIX ESPARGARÓ, SIXTH IN JEREZ


THE APRILIA RS-GP, CLOSER THAN EVER TO THE LEADER, CONTINUES TO GROW AND FINISHES WITH A FIVE SECOND GAP FROM THE RACE WINNER

LORENZO SAVADORI - NINETEENTH - IS UNABLE TO REPEAT THE PROGRESS DEMONSTRATED DURING THE WEEKEND IN THE RACE

With a great race and an extremely concrete performance, Aleix Espargaró rode his Aprilia RS-GP to a sixth-place finish in the Spanish GP in Jerez. But, more importantly, he continued closing the gap from the top, finishing 5 and one-tenth seconds behind the leader. This is the narrowest gap Aprilia has ever achieved and it arrives after four consecutive top-ten races with progressively smaller gaps.

The placing could have been even better if Aleix, after a fantastic start that had put him solidly in the top five, had been able to overtake Quartararo more quickly, who was slower than the group behind him after his initial attempt to run away at the front. Instead, he got caught up in the battle, ending up behind Nakagami and Mir. In any case, this is Aprilia’s best result ever in MotoGP.

In the final stages of the race, Aleix suffered pain in his right forearm. A flare-up of compartment syndrome is feared, as the Spanish rider had already undergone surgery for this ten years ago. He will participate in the tests schedule in Jerez tomorrow in a reduced capacity and will fly to Barcelona to have his arm examined.

Lorenzo Savadori, after demonstrating good progress in the days leading up to the race, had difficulty repeating the performance due to a mistake the team made with the tyres, so he had to settle for nineteenth place.

ALEIX ESPARGARÓ
"I'm happy with the solidity we are demonstrating. I managed the race well, with a good start and maintaining my position in the early stages. The pace was extremely high. I didn’t have a lot of grip, so I had to change my riding style a bit, lifting the bike up and not fully exploiting the RS-GP's extraordinary cornering capabilities. I was in the leading group until overtaking Fabio. It took me a bit longer than expected and that cost me a couple of seconds which turned out to be decisive. Not too bad. We continue racking up points and our gap has never been so consistently narrow. I also had some problems with my right forearm in the finale. It will need to be checked and managed in the best possible way."

LORENZO SAVADORI
"The final result is a pity because we had the pace and the potential to battle in the points zone. Unfortunately, after a good start, I had some problems with the front tyre pressure that forced me to slow down. In the finale, things stabilised, but at that point it was too late to recover the lost ground. I'm disappointed. A decent result was within our potential, but even races like the one today are important for better understanding the MotoGP’s dynamics."