Two years have passed since the last race in Thailand, precisely in the two seasons in which Aprilia made a qualitative leap that allowed them to go from being the worst team on the grid to fighting for the drivers’ championship with Aleix Espargaro.
The bike is so different from the last time in Buriram that for the Aprilia riders it was like going blind on the first day of the Thai Grand Prix. “The pace is not bad,” remarked Aleix at the end of the day, where he finished 12th in the combined times standings, “but on one lap I can’t go fast,” he complained. “The bike is sliding a lot. I’m not riding badly, but I can’t go faster,” said the Spaniard.
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
For Aleix it is not so much the driving or the style, as the lack of references on this track: “Maverick Viñales has been on the podium here (in the past) and has the same problems as me. We started very badly due to the lack of data, but I hope to be able to get closer to the fastest guys “, he continued trying to look on the bright side.
Despite not having been fast on the flying lap, Aleix believes he has a good pace and, in fact, sees only Ducati ahead of him in this sense, as does Marc Márquez: “Among the non-Ducati riders, only Marc is ahead of me. “.
After the technical error that prevented him from scoring points in Japan, another negative result this weekend would make his chances of fighting for the world championship even weaker, something that Aleix wants to avoid. “What has to happen will happen”, the Granollers driver resigned himself.
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