Aleix Espargarò said goodbye to the hopes of the world championship after the race in Malaysia, but there is another final goal to achieve.
Aprilia and Aleix Espargarò have experienced an almost inexplicable decline after the last podium at the Aragon MotorLand. Japan, Thailand, Australia and Malaysia have given the final blow to the champion hopes of the Venetian manufacturer, which went from -17 points after Aragon to -46 points from the top after the last Malaysian GP.
Aleix Espargarò paid for the technical delays of the Aprilia RS-GP22 emerged almost unexpectedly during the eastern tour. At Motegi an engineer error forced the Catalan driver to return to the pits after the reconnaissance lap and to restart from the pit lane. Then some electronics problems made the road to the world title difficult, until the math broke all hope at the end of the Sepang GP.
The inexplicable debacle of Aleix Espargarò
It is difficult to find an answer to Aleix Espargarò’s many legitimate doubts. “I don’t know what’s going on. We were slow on the straight and in general, we lacked traction. We lost without any explanation“He said before leaving Malaysia and returning home. In the last four races he has collected just 18 points, the same loot accumulated by his teammate Maverick Vinalesfresh from two races in 7th place and two outside the points.
Nightmare World Cup final for Aprilia and his two standard bearers. “I hope it is a lesson for the future because I have another two years on my contract and I think that if we keep this level we can aspire to fight for the title.“Added the eldest of the Granollers brothers. “I am sad because I wanted to keep the possibilities open up to Valencia, but proud for the people of Aprilia, of Noale. What we did will go down in history“.
To him the merit of having given the Venetian manufacturer the first victory in MotoGP, after the success of Termas de Rio Hondo. No one knows this prototype better than Aleix, no one better than him can make the necessary technical changes in view of the next development. Aprilia believes in it and will pursue the World Championship with more obstinacy. And from next year it will be able to count for the first time on a satellite team that will allow it to accelerate evolution. But it’s not over yet for 2022, because third place has to be defended in Valencia: “We had an impressive championship, we deserve the top“.
