It was the surprise of the first part of the season and on returning from the summer break he is looking for confirmation: Aleix Espargaro shows up at Silverstone just 21 points behind Fabio Quartararo, leader of the standings. The English race was unforgettable for the Catalan last year, here he conquered his first podium in MotoGP, also giving Aprilia the first podium in the premier class.
“I’ll try to do a normal race, here last year I had a lot of fun with the 2021 bike and this year’s bike is better all over the place. This will be a very positive circuit for us and I will try to recover some points to continue fighting for the top ”, says the driver of the Noale manufacturer in reference to the 2021 race and the progress made in one year.
In the appointment that marks the end of the summer break, Espargaro still carries with him the enthusiasm of the Dutch Grand Prix, where he was the author of a stratospheric comeback that led him, with a double overtaking at the last chicane, to conquer the podium: “It was a nice summer break, very long. But I enjoyed the Assen Grand Prix so much, to be honest it gave me a lot of motivation for the second half of the season because I proved to myself that I can be very competitive and fast. Last year here at Silverstone I got my first podium with Aprilia and after a year we achieved many more podiums, pole positions and a victory. It has been an incredible year and I hope to be able to continue on this path this weekend ”.
“I can’t wait, I’m more motivated than ever in my life”, continues the Aprilia rider. “I have recharged my batteries a lot during these five weeks and the challenge I have before me is enormous. But I will try to enjoy it as much as possible, it will be very intense for these three months. But I will give my best, I will try to fight until the end. I have a great team, a great bike and I showed in the last race that I can be very fast. Let’s try to have fun and see if I can do it ”.
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team, Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The comeback in Assen was the result of the accident that took place at the start of the race, in which he was the protagonist of a fall together with Fabio Quartararo, despite himself. The reigning champion took down his direct rival in the championship, thus incurring a penalty that he will have to serve on Sunday at Silverstone. However, this caused quite a bit of controversy from the riders, who sided with the Yamaha rider, against the penalty imposed on him.
“I fully agree with Fabio”, says Espargaro peremptorily. “In the sense that he is not happy and he cannot understand the penalty. We have seen several examples this year where there have been more aggressive riders but they have not had any penalties. So if you penalize in that case, then you had to do it on other occasions as well. I think Fabio will understand and go on, but all the riders of the Safety Commission are pushing for the same idea: we are trying to understand what the limit is by trying to have uniform judgments for everyone. Because if one day he penalizes himself and the next not, it becomes difficult to understand. We will continue to run aggressively. When Fabio said he will not overtake anyone, I don’t think that’s the truth, because he will overtake many riders, but we must try to find a way to penalize in the same way. There were episodes that weren’t too different, either everyone is penalized or no one is penalized ”.
However, given Quartararo’s great potential and the ease of overtaking at Silverstone, Aleix believes it will not be difficult for him to recover positions in the race: “I don’t think this penalty is so huge, I saw on the track this morning that the Long Lap area penalty shouldn’t cost too much time and Silverstone. Fabio was very strong here last year, so I don’t think he will change that much. The fact that he will have to serve it in the first three laps may not help him if the group is still compact, then he will lose some positions and will have to overtake. But Silverstone is a track where you can easily overtake ”.
Finally, Espargaro spends some words of praise for Andrea Dovizioso, who will retire after competing in the Misano Grand Prix, scheduled for September: “It is a shame to end such a beautiful career in this way. But with the current level it is very difficult to stop for a year and go back to racing trying to be competitive. Andrea for me and for all of Aprilia was a positive example of how to do things. For what he has achieved with Ducati, starting from the bottom and reaching the top. I hope he can do some good last races and then have fun in motocross ”.
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