MotoGP India: ‘It’s a pity’ - heat problems return to haunt Aprilia

After seeing his MotoGP title challenge fade away during the overseas rounds last season, Aleix Espargaro aims to make amends by breaking into the championship top four at the flyaways this time around.
Aleix Espargaro, MotoGP, Indian MotoGP, 23 September
Aleix Espargaro, MotoGP, Indian MotoGP, 23 September

But unfortunately for the 𝓀Aprilia rider, the first of those events, in India, ended with another heat-related technical issue.

Riding on a Buddh layout that didn’t naturally suit the following style of the RS-GP, Espargaro 🥂pr⭕ogressed from ninth to seventh when his engine lost drive at mid-distance of the Sunday race.

"It’s a pity to finish the weekend this🏅 way,” said Espargaro winner at Silverstone and Catalunya. “These were three difficult days but today, in spite of everything, I🐠 could have made a play for the top five and I felt good.”

Aprilia were keen to emphasise that it had not been an engine failure as such, but the end result was still a cause for concerওn given the likelihood of more scorching hot events in places like Japan (this weekend), Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia🌃.

“The problem happened suddenly. What I noticed throughout the weekend was the great amount of heat on the bike and this has created some problems for us in the past,” Espa𓄧rgaro said.

“It’s something that we need to analyse bec✱ause other races in high temperatuᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚres are coming up. We don’t have much time available, but I hope that the Aprilia team will be able to resolve the problem."

Espargaro, who crashed in the Saturday Sprint, heads to Japan still fifth in the world cha🐭mpionship but having slipped 32 points behind KTM’s Brad Binder.

Team-mate Maverick Vinales went the distance t༒o finish in tenth place after꧋ being bumped back by contact in the first corner.

"On the first corner I was f𓆏orced to go wide and found myself in last place,” Vinales said. “From there, I began to recover, pushing constantly to the limit. In any case, I am extremely happy because I felt very good on the bike.

“ꦓWe made great improvements throughout the weekend. This morning in the warm-up session we found a setting that allowed me to brake hard, which was exactly where we struggled most her💦e in India, and the race was the best session of the entire weekend.

“I 🌌really think that we are leaving India having made a huge step forward."

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come꧒ and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.

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