Espargaró and De Puniet continue to dominate the CRT MotoGP

The Power Electronics Aspar riders once again took centre stage in the CRT MotoGP World Championship at the Laguna Seca circuit, especially Aleix Espargaró, who secured a ninth-place finish to be proud of on a extremely demanding track.

Both riders of Team Aspar MotoGP have achieved the best results among the CRT so far this season, with a top 10 finish at this past round of the world championship — specifically ninth place, with which to celebrate his birthday in grand style.

And all this despite failing to find the best setup this weekend at Laguna Seca, but Espargaró completed the 32 laps of the North American round as the first CRT rider, finishing alone on track. For his part, De Puniet did not get off to a good start at the USA round after the collision with Pirro and Elías at the start of the race, but was able to return to the track and fight to improve his position.

In the CRT standings, Espargaró and De Puniet are now 1st and tied on 33 points, making for maximum excitement among the frontrunners in the runner-up battle.

Statements from 9th-placed Aleix Espargaró:

I am very happy with the result, although I haven’t enjoyed it as much as in other races. This weekend I found it a bit difficult to get the right feeling from the front wheel. I don’t know the reason, but I haven’t been able to make the bike turn as well as in previous rounds. Today we improved a little compared to the timed session. I got a good start, I set three very fast laps behind Valentino, and that helped me open a gap, then I tried to maintain the distance.

I didn’t know Randy had crashed, but I was surprised not to see him alongside me, since we had a very similar pace. For me it’s nicer to try to beat him man-to-man; in any case, what matters is winning in the CRT class. This year is going fabulously, the team is encouraging me a lot, supporting me and giving me everything at every race. So I want to express my gratitude to all the members of POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar for all the good results we have achieved so far.

Statements from 11th-placed Randy De Puniet:

I finish the American round slightly upset, because someone ran me off the track at the first corner, and that’s where my chances of being the best CRT rider went up in smoke.

After the collision I nearly crashed. Fortunately I was able to continue the race, but I lost a lot of time. Even so, I feel satisfied because after getting back on track I set a very consistent pace. On every lap I kept my concentration so as not to lose even a fraction of the pace, and I managed to overtake several riders to finish eleventh. I would have liked to reach Karel and Aleix; I gave everything I had, but the early loss of time weighed heavily on me. The positive side is that I could have ended up on the ground, but in the end I managed to score several very valuable points.

The team’s work, once again, has been fabulous, so we just need to keep it up at the next round.

Source | Power Electronics Aspar