Jakarta – Aleix Espargaro has studied his rival well. He had a winning strategy, which included dueling with Francesco Bagnaia, hoping for the Italian to make a mistake, right until the last chicane at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit on Saturday (25/5).
Although starting from pole position, the 34-year-old rider was unable to lead the 12-lap race until he eventually finished second eight laps from the end, after former race leader Raul Fernandez and Brad Binder fell.
After that, Espargaro maintained his pace, keeping a distance from the leading Bagnaia, until the Italian made a mistake, crashing in the final five laps, securing Espargaro’s second consecutive victory in Catalonia.
“I couldn’t get any closer to Pecco (Bagnaia) because I had some issues. I decided to stay behind him, not too far, either,” Espargaro said on the MotoGP official website, as reported by ANTARA on May 26th.
“My goal was to stay close enough at such a high speed to force him into a mistake, and in the end, he did,” he added.
The determined Espargaro, who plans to retire from MotoGP at the end of the season, will finish the Catalunya MotoGP series on a high note, having been the fastest in the practice, Free Practice 2 (FP2), qualifying, and the sprint.
However, he explained that the sprint victory was not an easy feat, as his speed in the early laps was still not enough to overtake the riders ahead of him.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy because at first, I felt like my speed was too high. I saw everyone sliding on the limit,” he said.
“So, I told myself for the first four or five laps after the start, ‘You’re not going to overtake because it’s impossible, they’re fast, so just laugh for four or five laps,'”
This gap earned him 12 points, putting him in the points standings and securing 63 points in eighth place overall.
For Espargaro, the sprint win, celebrated with his team, was a “dream Saturday,” followed by another, longer race on Sunday at 19.00 WIB, consisting of 24 laps.