The MotoGP Indian PGP ended with a retirement for Aleix Espargaró. While he was battling for the top five positions, with less than ten laps to go, his Aprilia suffered technical problems.
Visibly frustrated, the rider admitted that the RS-GP often experiences issues with hot weather: ‘I don’t know. The bike stopped, it’s a shame. Every time it’s really hot we suffer; it’s not the first time, it’s something we have to improve. The bike was boiling, it was very difficult to ride. The bike was competitive, but it was difficult due to the heat’.
Despite the outcome, Espargaró was happy with his performance, thinking he could grab the fourth place: ‘I was good. I think I was riding really, really well, really fast in 1m45s high. I had more rear tyre than Brad [Binder] and Joan [Mir], so I think the fourth place was quite ok to take it. But the bike stopped’.
Afterwards, the Spaniard said the gearbox was fine: ‘The gearbox was working, but it doesn’t matter. The bike just stopped, with no power’.
Asked if there is something Aprilia could do to improve these problems, Espargaró answered: ‘This is a very good question, but we were not able to improve. The last two, three seasons was always the same – I would say even four seasons. It has always been very tricky for us on the hot conditions and with this amount of fairing, aero, it’s even worse. So, we have to improve because it isn’t just the rider that suffers, but also all the bike suffers when it is hot like this’.
The rider from Granollers also stated: ‘Every season is the same when we go overseas. Hopefully they can do something, but it will be difficult because there isn’t so much time’.