Aleix Espargaró’s spectacular victory at Silverstone a fortnight ago put the spotlight on Aprilia, which was able to take advantage of the five-week summer break to present its riders with an improvement sufficient to challenge the extremely powerful Ducati.
This weekend, on the occasion of the Austrian Grand Prix, Aprilia will be able to verify the extent of its improvement, since while the British track has always been a friend to Noale’s bikes, Spielberg’s has always been a thorn in the side.
“Racing on this track is a test by fire, every race is, but Austria is a bit more so because it’s a bit like kryptonite for our bike,” Aleix Espargaró explained to Spielberg on Thursday.
“Racing here is a challenge and I like challenges. This year I’ve had two: one in Austin, where we’ve been very fast, and the other comes here, so I’m looking forward to seeing how much we’ve evolved. because it’s especially on difficult tracks and bad days that you see how much a project has evolved”.
In any case, the first win of the season for Aprilia and Aleix should be an extra boost for the team.
“It was a plus of positive energy for the team, for me and for all the people in it, but it doesn’t change much, we have to stay calm, with our feet on the ground. Last year at this stage we had many points and we played for everything until the end. This season, unlike last year, with so few points, we can risk more, have fun without thinking that a mistake would be so serious. So we have to be patient and have fun.”
If last year Aleix was very strong in the first part of the season, while he wasn’t so strong in the second, this year things could change.
“It will be very difficult to turn the situation around. Last year I didn’t have the best bike and I was a bit of a surprise, but Pecco Bagnaia has made a spectacular comeback: it’s very difficult to do what he did, recovering so many points. even if he had the best bike. To think of doing so would be a bit of suicide. We have to look at ourselves, without looking at the others. I think we have to do a good second part of the season, like we did last year in the first.” said the pilot of Granollers”.
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