MotoGP | Espargaro: “We are still fighting, I think it’s our year”

Third in the general classification, Aleix Espargaro arrived in Thailand with 27 points behind the leader Fabio Quartararo and, despite a complicated race with a Long Lap Penalty included, he recovered 7 points to the French, who now leads the classification with only two points on Pecco Bagnaia.

The Aprilia rider was very active on the starting grid before the start of the race. he tried to make the rest of the drivers understand that there was an area very close to the limit between turns 3 and 4, where he claimed that visibility was zero. They tried to clean that spot quickly, but to no avail, and the race started in terrible conditions. “There was a lot of stress, the track was in good condition, but between turns 3 and 4 you couldn’t see anything,” said Aleix, who finished the race in 11th position.

“It was very dangerous. Before the race I wanted them to clean the water from that area. I got mad at the other riders because they didn’t put pressure on this thing, ”she revealed. “It’s not about wanting or not wanting to race, it’s about trying to help the Safety Commission. Nothing could be seen on the track, I warned the commissioners, but fortunately nothing happened ”.

“In this morning’s warm up, after a very difficult weekend, we made a step forward, I think I have the pace to finish sixth,” he said. “I’m happy, I was fast. I started 13th and finished seventh,” she recalled.

Aleix then explained the contact with Brad Binder at the beginning of the race and for which the Spaniard was penalized: “I don’t think I deserved a Long Lap Penalty for the contact with Brad. Morbidelli hit me twice in the last laps; I don’t know what he was looking for, maybe a contract. And he didn’t get any penalty, “he complained.

The Race Direction penalized Aleix with a Long Lap Penalty, which in this circuit is very long: “In the long lap I had to take a lap in Rome”, he said wanting to exaggerate. “I don’t think it’s difficult to try to create long laps where you lose more or less the same time, here I lost five seconds”, he said referring to other circuits, such as Silverstone, where Fabio Quartararo only lost nine tenths or one second. .

However, Aleix wants to look at the situation in a positive way and with three races from the end he absolutely refuses to throw in the towel: “We have been very unlucky in the last two races and we are only 20 points behind. Also, we will go to two circuits that I love ( Australia and Sepang) and where I go strong. I think this is our year “.