MotoGP, Aleix Espargaró: "If I were to lose the title due to the Barcelona mistake..."

MotoGP is now on its summer break and will be back on track at Silverstone on 7 August. A championship that will presumably resume where it left off, with three main frontrunners who are the quickest almost every weekend - Fabio Quartararo, Pecco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaró. The latter is undoubtedly the revelation of the season, aboard an Aprilia that is demonstrating impressive levels of competitiveness and consistency. In an interview for Spanish talk show ‘La Resistencia’, the Spaniard talks about how pleased he is and reveals that: "After the races we always have a technical briefing and I thanked the guys at Assen for everything we’re experiencing. For us, a top five in the championship is incredible, and we’re also fighting for a world title. They’re all doing an amazing job". 

A. Espargaró: "We’re living a dream"

The Spaniard then outlines the work the Noale manufacturer is doing, considering that the brand’s racing success has mainly revolved around the small engines: "Aprilia has many titles in the minor categories but they’re relatively new in MotoGP. It’s not that they hadn’t won, up until last year they hadn’t even seen a podium. Then this year we’ve scored podiums, wins and pole positions. I’m super happy, we’re living a dream.”

Espargaró touches on the error at Barcelona, when he believed he had finished the race one lap ahead of time, slowing and losing second place as a result, before ultimately finishing fifth: "I thought the race was over and then when everyone started to pass me I realized I’d done something stupid. I got confused, I was so focused that I didn’t see the pit board. That was a tough one for me to put behind me, I went through a difficult patch. Nothing can comfort me more than coming back to the garage to see my kids there waiting for me but, on that occasion, I couldn’t stop crying, I thought what a ridiculous way to end your home race.”

 "The Barcelona mistake? One of the worst moments of my life”

His mind surely went to the championship and the title fight... will he pay dearly for those nine lost points? "The only thing I can think about is what if I were to lose the championship at Valencia by nine points… Just imagine… That was one of the worst moments of my life and my sporting career”. One last interesting fact about the Spaniard’s salary, now that he’s a top rider: "I’ll be honest. I swear on my kids’ life that my wife does all that and I can’t even tell you how much I have in the bank. With Aprilia, the factory riders earn around 2-3 million Euro, more or less.”

Traslated by Heather Watson

PEDROSA: “A BATTLE AGAINST LORENZO AND ROSSI IN THE CAR? IT WOULD BE GREAT, BUT..."