Espargaro much happier with notably better bike feeling

Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa were the riders to beat at Indianapolis on Friday, topping the morning and afternoon standings, respectively, on day one at The Brickyard. Overnight rain made track conditions tricky for all three classes, with the asphalt dirty and slippery despite drying out over the course of the day. 23 riders were in action in the premier class today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway –the biggest showing of the year so far. The negative point was Héctor Barberá’s crash in the morning that left him with three fractured vertebrae on his return to competition -26 days after suffering a double fracture to his leg.

The POWER ELECTRONICS riders were again the top CRT participants. Randy De Puniet was the quickest of the new class of bike, placing eleventh overall. He lost time in the morning when a stone became stuck in his tyre, but was stronger in the afternoon with a 1’41.855 lap –two seconds off the top spot. Teammate Aleix Espargaró also made a solid start, finishing the day in fourteenth. The Spaniard suffered a little with the difficult track conditions, but was nonetheless satisfied.

14th Aleix Espargaró 1.42.360 (36 laps): “I am much happier than I was at Laguna Seca and the feeling here onboard the bike is notably better. We lost a little time this afternoon trying a few things out with the second bike, which we had to do because it was not working as well as the number one machine. Maybe I was missing a fast lap for the day, but in general I am happy and think that we did a good job today. The track conditions today were a little hairy, as you would slide around a lot and it was dirty on the majority of the asphalt. That made keeping up a steady pace very difficult. Fortunately, things improved as the day went on. Despite this, you have to ride with a lot of care.”

Source: Aspar Team Press Release