Team Aspar

The MotoGP race at the Catalan GP will have much to say in the development of the season. Jorge Lorenzo moved ahead of Casey Stoner on number of wins for the season so far, racking up his third of the campaign. The race was all about tire choice, with Lorenzo taking victory on the softer compound and benefitting from uncertainty as the expected rainfall did not occur. Dani Pedrosa had taken the lead earlier in the race, but was hunted down by the former World Champion and finally overtaken. Lorenzo placed first, Pedrosa second at a home race for both riders.

POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider Randy De Puniet made an error with his tire Choice for the race, but teammate Aleix Espargaró would have been tough to beat in the competition to be the best CRT rider at the Catalan GP. After a battle between the two and Michele Pirro, it was Espargaró who took the honour at his home race, with Pirro separating the two teammates. Espargaró holds an advantage in the CRT overall standings after his latest performance.

De Puniet went with a harder rear tire, but the variation in conditions did not play into his hands. The Frenchman lost feel with his ART, but nonetheless put up a fight to cross the line fifteenth.

13th Aleix Espargaró: “For the most part we have been faster than our rivals this weekend, but we still had a difficult race today. It was necessary to dig deep in order to finish as the best CRT. I was missing a few tenths with a soft tire in practice, but I knew that we had a strong race pace. Once again we were very strong from the midway point onwards. I think that we are doing things well and I am happy with that. It was a great feeling to give my all and achieve my objective in front of such great home fans. I want to dedicate this result to my brother, who had a tough break today.”

15th Randy De Puniet: “I think that we made a mistake with our tire Choice. We had good feedback from the hard rear yesterday and the times were good, so we decided to go with it for the race. However, today the track conditions were different from the start and I began to feel strange with the bike. I knew the my teammate and the other CRT riders had put gone for the soft compound, so I waited thinking that at the midway point I would have things easier. That didn’t happen with the rear, and to add to that I made a few mistakes changing gear that lost me over a second. Now we have to analyse what happened today and see where we went wrong with the tire choice. We still haven’t finished a race 100% happy, so we will continue fighting so that this can happen at Silverstone.”