Another great showing by Aleix Espargaro pushes him to 9th in championship

Rain had brought the Moto2 French GP to a premature conclusion, and also had a say in the MotoGP race at Le Mans. The premier class riders had to take on tricky conditions in the matinee event, as rain fell on the track during the 28-lap race.

Whilst it was hard for the riders, the situation provided fans with an exciting battle. Andrea Dovizioso took the holeshot with Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo on his tail and Valentino Rossi just behind. Cal Crutchlow and Nicky Hayden joined up with the group, before Lorenzo lost ground and Rossi crashed out.

Meanwhile, Pedrosa pulled away a gap from lap 14 onwards. Crutchlow took second place and Marc Márquez pipped Dovizioso to third with two laps remaining.

POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider Aleix Espargaró was able to use his talent to stay upright in Ricky conditions, taking his bike back to the pits in the same condition in which he had left. He had difficult moments in the race, including a runoff on lap 7 that lost him two places. He then decided to err on the side of caution, managing to overcome a lack of grip on track to cross the finish line as the top CRT rider.

The Spaniard leaves Le Mans in high spirits after another great result, with thirteenth place at the French GP. He now lies ninth in the overall standings in MotoGP, with 20 points.

13th Aleix Espargaró:
“At the start of the weekend we found it hard to find pace; this track has never been one of my favourites, and the cold made it tricky to find the best setup. Finally, in qualifying we got what we were looking for with the setup, and knew what we had to do if the race was dry. We still hadn’t ridden in the wet this year, however. That meant that we had a few surprises in the rain today and, although everything went ok, I had to fight against my bike for a large part of the race because the electronics weren’t working as I had expected. The bike was sliding around a lot and the traction control was hampering me, but we were able to stay upright and finish as the best CRT. We are ninth overall after four races, are doing a fabulous job and I am very happy. I hope that we continue this way.”

Source: Aspar Media