Aleix Espargaro insisted Sunday’s Argentine MotoGP as a nightmare. He said that the race in Termas de Rio Hondo was one of the worst of his career and has believed that he even imagined that he had a flat tyre during the dispute.
Aleix came as one of the favourites for the second round of the season, but only corresponded on Friday, when Aprilia dominated the two practices of the day.
“It’s hard to understand. At times during the race I thought I had a flat tyre. It was crazy,” Espargaro said.
“I couldn’t open the throttle even on the straight. Even there I had to change gears at 10,000 RPM, before the limiter, because the bike wouldn’t go forward.
“It was crazy. Really one of my worst races. And long. It’s tough, in Sepang we did some good laps in the wet, but not everybody lapped. So it was difficult to predict. It was really a nightmare.” Espargaro added.
While his teammate Maverick Vinales took seventh place in the sprint race, Aleix retired after a crash.
The following day, with rain, the performance deteriorated even more: the “Top Gun” was only 12th, while the oldest of the Espargaró ended up only 15th.
Espargaro believed that the mechanical grip of the RS-GP didn’t work, but neither did the electronics. The Spaniard said he thought he had a flat tyre at some points during the race in Termas de Rio Hondo.
Asked why the RS-GP is so good around Rio Honda, however, Espargaro couldn’t explain it as he doesn’t feel like the bike is actually good at the circuit.
“I don’t know, I don’t understand. I mean, the bike is not good here, sincerely. But I think it’s less bad than the other bikes.” Espargaro said.
“But the bike is not good, in Portimao I felt 10 times better. The bike was grippy, turning, good on the brakes.
“Here it’s like you are on ice all the time, sliding, sliding. It’s crazy. But it looks like the other bikes are even worse.” he added.
