Aleix Espargaró was devastated at the end of the Montmeló race. He got off the Aprilia, went to his corner of the garage and leaned back to cry inconsolably for the mistake that cost him second place in the Catalunya GP won by Fabio Quartararo. Far from hiding, the man from Granollers soon left the cave and showed his face to admit his mistake and apologize. “It’s an unacceptable mistake in MotoGP, when you’re playing for the championship.”
“The only thing I can say is I apologize to my team, I’m sorry for them, it’s an unacceptable mistake in this category. It was completely my fault. If I want to win the championship I can’t make these mistakes, I lose 9 points (to Fabio), so I’m very sorry”, commented Aleix Espargaró, dejected.
On the circumstance of the mistake, Aleix explained that his confusion was due to a failure of observation on his part. “It was 100% my fault. The blackboard was very close to the curve and I didn’t have time to see all the information. I saw “0.6 Martín”, he was pushing hard to keep second place and since I couldn’t see the remaining laps. I have looked at the tower, I have not remembered that here the last lap is “L0”, I have seen “L1”, I have made a turn and I have cut gas. I was very focused and I didn’t notice the checkered flag or anything. It’s a very big mistake, so I apologize to the team.”
On the last real lap, once he realized the mistake, Espargaró tried to make up as much lost ground as possible. “On the last lap I saw Massimo Rivola on a screen that they focused on him and he put his hands on his head. Automatically I understood that he thought the engine had broken or some technical story, I saw that everyone was pulling, so I pushed hard. I have tried to recover. I thought he would be 12th, I didn’t know anything.” He took back one place, from Marini, and finished 5th.
Regarding the loss of points, 9 more than expected with Quartararo (he moves away to 22), Espargaró tried to minimize the damage. “The loss of points has not been monumental either. I have lost 9 points. We had 20 assured of second place in Barcelona. One of the most difficult days I have spent in Barcelona,” admitted the man from Granollers.
The Aprilia rider, after the mea culpa, tried to turn the page and think about the future. “In Germany I am going to try to win, just like here. We had a perfect weekend, in the race I didn’t have Fabio’s speed in the first few laps, but it’s very difficult to score 20 points, it was the 5th consecutive podium, I already had it. But that’s what there is. One of the most difficult moments of my career”, settled the one from Granollers.
