Aleix Espargaro has admitted that he expected the ride to his maiden MotoGP win in the Argentinean Grand Prix to be “easier” having dominated the weekend prior to the race.
The Spaniard led the way in what was dubbed ‘Super Saturday’ at the Termas de Rio Hondo following the cancellation of Friday action after freight delays by topping FP2 before then flying to Aprilia’s first MotoGP pole by 0.151s over Jorge Martin.
Having led warm-up comfortably, Espargaro was expected to be the favourite to win the first Argentinean GP in three years, though his job was made harder after he dropped behind the rapid-starting Ducati of Martin off the start.
Having shadowed the Pramac pilot across the opening two-thirds of the encounter Espargaro finally started to attack, the veteran of 200 premier class races finally making the move stick at Turn 4 following two failed attempts with just five tours left to run.
He ultimately fought off the pressure to take the chequered flag less than a second ahead of Martin to score his first ever grand prix win across all classes – in his 284th total race – as well as Aprilia’s first in the top category, though he conceded he expected the feat to come “easier” following his earlier weekend form.
“I’m very happy about this weekend in Argentina, overall I felt really strong in Qatar and Indonesia so it’s not particularly surprising that we have had a strong weekend,” explained Espargaro.
“The race I expected to be easier because this morning I was really strong but I couldn’t find the grip in the race because it was so hot, things were very slippery but I think I did a smart race and finally after this long period with Aprilia we have achieved the victory.
“This is like a dream but I think we truly deserve this, now I will try and keep the momentum heading to America, it will be a difficult circuit for us but we go there with positive energy.”
Espargaro added that receiving support from wife Laura – as well as the appointment of current Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola – helped him to continue with the Italian marque’s project having come very close to walking away a few years ago, admitting it feels “even better” to achieve his goal with Aprilia after having severe doubts the programme would ever find success.
“Three years ago I had no energy (to continue) and the tank was completely empty, I talked to my wife and said ‘I can’t continue, I’m not enjoying’ but she helped me a lot and with the arrival of Massimo Rivola (team boss) things started to change which allowed me to still believe in the project,” continued Espargaro.
“We deserve this because we have worked so hard, to win the race and lead the championship normally it’s incredible anyway no matter what bike you have but to do it with Aprilia it’s even better, so I’m very happy.
“I’m a very passionate guy so when I arrived home after a tough weekend, which was almost every weekend in the first five years with Aprilia it was very hard for me to happy and my wife supported me a lot and the arrival of my kids gave me a boost of energy, so I’m happy to achieve it for them.”
