MotoGP Malaysia: Aleix Espargaro suffers four Friday falls: “I’ve definitely had better days”
But the factory Aprilia star went on to suffer three more accidents in the afternoon session; at Turns 1, 9 and finally the fa꧟st Turn 5.
T🏅hat meant Espargaro only completed nine laps d꧑uring the hour.
The best of which, on lap 4, was only good enough for 20th place, meaning he will need to take part🌟 in Qualifying 1.
Prior to Friday, Espargaro had fallen 15 🌱times over the previous 17 rounds, an average of less than one ac🔴cident per grand prix weekend.
So what had gone wrong?
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"I’ve definitely had better days, but I can’t say that I’m par๊ticularly worried,” Espargaro insisted. “We are well aware of the problem, so tomorrow we’ll go back to a standard solution and I’m sure I’ll be able to be fast.”
That ‘standard solution’ refers to the normal Ohlins front suspension🦄, having retried the new ‘longer’ fork on Frid👍ay afternoon in the hope that it would prove beneficial in the hard-braking zones at Sepang.
Instead, Espargaro struggled with excessive understeer, leading to his falls, and must now fight for one of the two remaining transfer p♉laces in Saturday’s Q🌠ualifying 1.
“It will be a demanding Saturday since I have to go through Q1, plus the last craꦜsh left me a bit scratched up and that won’꧃t make life easy,” Espargaro said.
“We are ride💜rs and we know this can happen. Th🎃e important thing is to know where to make changes."
Meanwhile, team-mate Mave🐬rick Vinales is safely through to Qualifying 2 already courtesy of the fifth fastest lap time.
"A strange Friday on this track. We know that in the first session grip is usually poor and then it gradually improves, but today I di♏d not have a better feeling in the afternoon,” he said.
“Anyway, in the last time attackಞ with a new tyre, I felt better, so that’s a starting point for tomorrow.”
The Aprilia riജders also had some new ducting to try and improve airflow to their helmets, after struggling to breathe in the recent Thai Grand Prix.
“We made some compar♒isons between various systems to improve thermal comfort in the saddle and I must 🙈thank Aprilia for their quick response in spite of the little time available,” Vinales said.
“Today the temperatures were not 🦄extreme, so it’s diffi🐼cult to evaluate. We’ll analyse the data and understand more as early as the Sprint Race."
Peter 👍has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the S𒀰uzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
