Good battle from Espargaro for 10th place

Good test for the Pramac Racing Team riders today on Assen circuit. Aleix Espargarò has completed the race in the tenth position, obtaining the fourth position among the top ten in the last four races. Despite the bad start that saw him lose several positions, he immediately retrieved the riders ahead of him. After passing Kallio in the third lap, he start to recover the gap he had from Simoncelli, that was nearly three seconds ahead. A good race pace has given him the opportunity to reduce the disadvantage by Italian rider and overtake him in the fourteenth lap. Just after he had pass Simoncelli, Aleix tried to detach and recover Edwards in the eighth position. But because the gap he had from the American was almost five seconds, and because Simoncelli was always close to him, Aleix thought to be overtake by the Italian rider and study his trajectory in order to identify the point where he can try the final overtake. Despite the very small gap on the last lap, he was unable to move back ahead and to win the ninth position. Good performance for Mika Kallio that thanks to a good start, had won the eleventh position. The Finn has battled for almost all the race with Capirossi and Barberà to win the eleventh position. Over the last five laps it was first passed by Loris Capirossi and then intensely struggled with Barberà. A great last corner start, allowed him to keep the Spaniard back and finish the race in the eleventh position. A positive weekend for riders who have always given their best to obtain an important result of this historic Dutch circuit.

Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Team Technical Director
“Assen result do not fully repay the work we have done during this weekend, we knew that we could go very fast on this track and get an important result with both riders, in any case is a positive result. We finished the race with both riders and we have seen the steady growth of both. Good race for Aleix who proved once more to improve his feeling with his bike and this category. The hope is that he can get a good result in his home track next week.”

Aleix Espargarò – Pilot Pramac Racing – 10th in the race – 12th in World Championship
“The result does not prove the full value I could give on this track. Unfortunately the bad start made me lose immediately the contact to the first riders, I had to fight to regain the positions I had lost. After I passed some riders I had a good race pace that allowed me to reduce the gap I had to Simoncelli. In eight laps I managed reduce the three seconds gap I had to him and pass him. I pushed as hard to try to pull a gap on him but I risked to crash at a couple of corners. At seven laps I made him pass me. I studied the places where I could try to overtake him, but in the last lap I could not be close enough to beat him. I’m also happy to had a so reduced gap from the Grand Prix winner, this is the minimum gap I had in this season. In the next week we’ll race in Barcelona, my home Grand Prix. I will do my best to obtain a good result for my team and my fans.”

Source: Pramac Racing