Aleix Espargaro in the points in 12th, Bradley Smith 19th in Styrian GP
It was almost a photocopy of what happened seven days ago at the Red Bull Ring: today a red flag once again interrupted the first part of the race, which then restarted for a 12-lap distance.
Aleix Espargaró exploited both starts well, moving up positions and finishing with an outstanding twelfth place. But, more than anything, the Aprilia rider’s pace was extremely positive as he managed to keep the gap behind the leaders to just 6.4 seconds on a difficult track and in less-than-easy conditions. The Austrian double race confirms the good base of the RS-GP project, ready to take on the double “home” rounds in Misano.
ALEIX ESPARGARO:
“I am satisfied. Especially in the second race, we maintained an excellent pace. We could have battled in the top 6. It’s a pity about the problems in qualifying that forced me to start from so far back. When you start the race with a gap like that, making up ground is very complicated, even when you’re lapping very fast. In any case, we are leaving this track, which is a hard one for us, demonstrating some steps forward compared to last year. In fact, I am convinced that our potential is higher. Unfortunately, up to now we haven’t been able to fully exploit it for one reason or the other.”
BRADLEY SMITH:
“Unfortunately, the conditions didn’t favour me today. We were ready to make the RS-GP work well with higher temperatures, but that’s not how it went. Anyway, in the first race we were keeping up with the group, so the red flag was not an advantage for us. We didn’t have any new soft tyres to put on and the restart ended up being basically a qualifying session. Many riders with new tyres managed to maintain a pace that was unsustainable for us. I see the glass half full after this weekend. We have definitely grown and I hope to be able to confirm that on a track like Misano that is kinder to us.”