Aleix Espargaró and Randy De Puniet continue two-way fight for best CRT rider honours, with Spaniard winning out at British GP
Over the course of almost the entirety of the twenty-lap MotoGP race at Silverstone, a matter of between three and four tenths of a second separated the two Aspar Team riders. Aleix Espargaró and Randy De Puniet were once again the main players in the battle to be best CRT rider, in a tough tussle carried out with the utmost respect.
Espargaró first pulled clear, but De Puniet managed to regain ground and passed his teammate -who was happy to follow from close behind. Two laps from the end, Espargaró went back in front, found the necessary space to keep his lead and was the first CRT rider past the line for the fourth time this season.
Aleix Espargaró
"I'm happier than ever today, as both my brother Pol and I got good results here at Silverstone. I started well and tried to follow the satellite bikes, but they kept leaving me behind on the straights. I was able to pull away from the other CRT riders, but little by little Randy caught me back up. I let him set the pace once he had passed. Two laps from the end, I took over in front and broke away, just as I did at Montmeló. I outbroke him on the first chicane, gritted my teeth and did what I needed to do in order to finish ahead. I have never had a more competitive rival who I get on so well with at the same time. I love this atmosphere that we have in Power Electronics Aspar. It is very difficult for me to beat him over the course of a single hot lap in practice, especially when we work more on the race, but I am getting good results recently."
Randy de Puniet
"I didn't get a very good start and I had to get past Pirro and make up ground in order to get back in touch with Aleix. Once I caught up with him I made a pass and stayed in front for practically the whole race, but I was having a lot of problems with the rear tyre. I felt a lot of movement and I was lacking grip. I tried to put up with this throughout the course of the race and shake off Aleix's moves, but in the end he must have seen that he was faster than me at certain points on the track. Once he'd got past he managed to open up a gap, and whilst I was able to pull it back on the final laps it wasn't enough to try and regain the position. I am annoyed, because we did a good job and yet still didn't find the best chassis setting. In the warm-up we improved the feel on the front, but it was the rear that gave us the most scares and affected us most in the race. We will have to keep on working in order to perfect the bike and be more consistent."
Power Electronic Aspar Press Release
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