It’s been almost five months since Aleix Espargaró announced the end of his MotoGP career, before becoming a Honda test rider in 2025. Until now, the Catalan remained fully focused on his role as an Aprilia rider. but at this very intense end of the season, with seven races in the space of nine weekends, the rare break between Japan and Australia allowed him to become better aware of the end of the cycle which was approaching.
“This time, while packing my suitcase home, I realized that it was the end of my career”confided Espargaró upon his arrival at the Phillip Island circuit. “Before this race, I was just focused and I didn’t tell myself that these were the last moments of my career but this time, it’s my last trip to Asia [et Océanie]. I will try to finish in style, to perform well, but we are not in a super easy position.”
Realizing that his visits to the next circuits will perhaps be the last of his life, and that his chances of riding there again will be even lower, Espargaró wants to make the most of each moment, even if it means putting performance first. second plan: “It’s the first time this season that I feel a little bit of this emotion. [Je l’ai eue] a little in Barcelona but afterwards, I was focused and I didn’t tell myself that it was my last season.”
“But this time I was quite sad when packing my suitcase for Australia because I knew it was the last time in my career. I will try to enjoy and take things as they come, try to don’t get upset if we perform well, great, but if not, I’ll still try to have fun.”
“We always try to perform well but these are my last four races, so I don’t want to go home with bad memories, being sad”he summarized. “Obviously I’m going to try to perform as well as possible but also have fun because I’ll ride at Jerez again, there’s no doubt about it, maybe I’ll ride at Mugello, but it will be difficult to ride at back to Phillip Island for the next few years. I’ll try to remember that.”
Aleix Espargaró
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Aleix Espargaró shares this last chapter of his career with Jorge Martín, who will succeed him at Aprilia next year. Very close, the two men are experiencing very different times since the Pramac driver is currently fighting for the title. In Australia, they decided to stay in the same place in order to get away from the pressure and in this regard, Espargaró feels that his compatriot has made great progress.
“Last year he was clearly quite nervous. We try to learn as humans and he took the experience from last season. He tried to have more fun. For example, this year in Australia , he shares a house with me, with his girlfriend, so we try not to be totally, totally focused I think last year he maybe tried to do too much work, and sometimes it’s. less well. This year, I see that he is having a lot more fun, he is more relaxed. I hope he will succeed.
A successful end to the season would allow Martín to arrive at Aprilia as world champion, while the Noale brand has been struggling for several races. Espargaró nevertheless hopes for a clearing for his last races in the RS-GP: “With Aprilia, we tried to brainstorm, to change things to be efficient in our last four races together.”
Espargaró nevertheless suffered in Australia last year and fears that no improvement has been made to his machine in a year: “We haven’t made any progress in terms of grip, in fact it’s worse than last year so we’ll have to see. One element that can change things quite a bit is the new asphalt, it can completely turn the situation around. We’ll have to see.”
“Regarding the forecast, it looks super windy and cold,” Espargaró said. “A typical Australian weekend!”
Related News :