Aleix Espargaró is black at the end of the MotoGP Qualifying in Valencia.
The Aprilia rider finished 12th at the end of the timed session to define the starting grid for the last race of the year, but not his fault.
Twice, in fact, the Spaniard found himself waving yellow flags to force him to slow down, but while the first could be a fair signal due to the fall of Francesco Bagnaia, on the second occasion it was a mistake made by the race direction, as he explains himself.
“Honestly, I was very unlucky because ‘Pecco’ crashed in front of me and I found the yellow flags, but on the last lap the stewards made a mistake”, says the driver of the Noale manufacturer.
“The LED panels on the straight were flashing yellow, but there were no accidents. They were on because Martín had gone wide under the stands to celebrate the Pole Position: you can’t do such a thing if no one has fallen on the gravel! “
“I went to the race direction to protest, I was very angry. They simply said to me: ‘Sorry, it was a mistake’. I understand that it could happen, but in this way they ruined my qualifying”.
“I didn’t manage to put together a good lap and I find myself 12th. It will be difficult to recover tomorrow, which is a shame because we had the pace to fight for the podium. So it’s tougher.”
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
This last statement dictated by the fact that the changes made after the complicated day on Friday made Espargaró’s bike a little better.
“We don’t usually modify the bike much overnight, but this time we did it, especially on the suspension, on the front discs and other things to try to increase the temperatures at the front.”
“They worked and I was quicker this morning on the medium tires, doing a good lap on the soft ones. Basically I’m happy, in Free 4 I crashed, but I took the second bike and with the tires used for about twenty laps in the morning I managed to stay on the 1’31 “high, which is excellent”.
#Black #Espargaró #commissioners #Yellow #flags