Despite the intense heat at the Circuit de Catalunya on Monday, no rider was in the mood for an early departure. Besides the Honda factory riders and an isolated number of the MotoGP field, almost the entire grid was out on track for post-race testing at the Spanish circuit. It was an opportunity to try out things that time had not permitted during the race weekend, and the track was open from 10am until 6pm for hard work. The times were mostly slower than on the weekend –understandably given that the day was devoted to trying out new things. Jorge Lorenzo was the fastest rider, followed by Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl. Aleix Espargaró was seventh quickest.
Yesterday he finished eighth and was once again the best CRT finisher by far. However, Aleix Espargaró was disappointed that he had not been able to enjoy the race as much as other contests. To leave a better taste in his mouth, the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider undertook a day of testing today, and did not want to waste a single minute of it. Today he worked with three different frames, in order to compare his feeling with each of them and pick the direction to take between now and the end of the season. He also worked with the new front forks debuted on Friday, in order to set them up and confirm that they provided a boost in front end stability. With the rear he adjusted the setup to make the chassis easily adjustable to any type of tyre compound. Exhausted after 63 laps and eight hours of uninterrupted riding, Espargaró concluded the test very satisfied with his showing and having taken three-tenths of his best time from the Catalan GP weekend.
7th Aleix Espargaró 1.42.537 (63 laps): "I am very pleased. I think that the test today was by far the most productive I’ve had since I've been on this team. We tested three different chassis, so we have collected a lot of data that has allowed us to compare all the material we have available. We have not stopped working today. This day of testing has helped us to determine which bikes we shall use from now until the end of the season. Although we have taken very good conclusions from the test, it is clear that we must continue working with the same intensity as always. I think we can still improve our confidence with the front, and I’m sure that our cornering will be faster when we get this down. I am very happy with everything that we have worked on, and we've improved upon our best time of the weekend -plus we were six-tenths off the fastest rider. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
Power Electronics Aspar Press Release
You can give your opinion on our Facebook page here
Get the latest update on our Twitter page here
