A strong Friday showing for Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaró saw the Spaniard place his RS-GP21 in early contention at Jerez after completing MotoGP’s FP2 third overall.
Consistently running at the front throughout the day’s two 45-minutes sessions the Andorran resident demonstrated strong pace on both fresh and used tyres, lapping below the 1’38 mark five times before concluding the day with a fastest effort of 1’37.646.
“It’s only Friday,” Espargaro commented from Jerez this afternoon, “but being fast right from the first lap is important. Especially looking at the pace in race configuration, I think I was one of the more competitive riders. Tomorrow I expect the track conditions to change and that could shake things up for everyone. In any case, there is no doubt as to our speed, even if I was unable to improve a lot in the time attack on the soft tyre. On a track like this one, overtaking is no simple thing, so our goal for tomorrow will have to be the first three rows at the very least.
“I’m satisfied about day one but the good thing is that it looks like we are working well everywhere we’re going, so it’s not about one single track. Anyway, as it’s the first time for us that we are competitive like this, obviously you always have the doubts - if you will move to a new track and you will be still competitive - so I have to say that today, from lap one, lap two of FP1, I felt very, very strong, felt very comfortable with the bike, especially regarding the race tyre. I felt that I can maintain a very high pace so overall I’m satisfied. After the first day, all riders in every single class, will put more rubber on track so I think tomorrow things may change a little bit, but I feel good so let’s wait and see.”
Downplaying any advantages gained by Andrea Dovizioso’s recent visit to the track with the Noale outfit, Espargaro continued “I will say our small advantage was a long time ago. I think in February I was here testing but anyway, we did not start on that set up because we improved a little bit the bike after the Jerez test in February because it was just a shakedown of the RSGP-21. After the Qatar test and races and Portimao, we’ve just stayed on the setting that we’ve developed. So I will say that there is no big difference between the others - I mean, Stefan who is also a good rider has been living here all winter, testing many days in Jerez and he was not in top-10 so I don’t think that I have a big advantage.”
Having secured a provisional place in Saturday’s Q2, the Spaniard is aware that tomorrow morning’s pace will be even more hotly contested, explaining “the goal is to still improve a little bit. For sure everybody will get closer, we know how close is always Jerez, three-tenths will be everybody tomorrow in FP3!
“Apart from one hot lap, I think that we have good pace - even for me it was a little bit shocking when I had more than 10 laps on the tyre and I was able to lap at ‘37 every lap, so I felt very, very good and this will give me motivation for the race.
“I’m sure that especially the Yamahas, maybe Suzuki’s, will get closer tomorrow but it’s difficult to go a lot faster than ‘37 on race pace. Already on day one we are able to lap on ‘37 with used tyre, so they have to improve more than me.
“We have a good base set up now with the RS-GP21. I think that when you are able to fight for the top-five in almost every session, in three super different tracks - Qatar, Jerez and Portimao - it means that, there is room to improve, always there is room to improve, but more or less this is the setup.
“I would like to say that I’m ready to win, but it’s not true. Every weekend we are closer and closer to our goal, which is fight for the victories and for the podium and in this track it looks like we are a little bit closer but yes for sure the rest will catch up. I think here the three Yamaha boys - Morbidelli, Vinales and Quartararo - are the men to beat, but we are close, I’m very happy about the first day because again, to be able to do many laps on race tyres at ‘37 is very, very good so I hope that I can stay with them. It’s very important to start good in the race and try to follow the Yamahas for the first part of the race.
“This morning after the first session I was losing more time in sector two but Matteo Baiocco, our track guy, give me some very good tips and information and I think in the second session I finished second in the second split. So it worked, I improve a lot from FP1 to FP2 and in sector two, I was stronger. Unfortunately with the soft tyre I didn’t put everything together, I had traffic and made mistakes but in any case, I’m fast in every sector. Let’s see tomorrow if we’re able to put everything together and then we can challenge also Bagnaia, who is very, very fast on one hot-lap, for the first row, or the pole position.”
