Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro says he “burned his fingers” throughout a sizzling MotoGP race in Malaysia the place he struggled to thirteenth place.
The Aprilia RS-GP is notorious for its overheating issues, with each Espargaro and team-mate Maverick Vinales having repeatedly expressed considerations about its hostile results throughout a few of the flyaway races in Asia.
In accordance with Espargaro, the Noale model has made no progress on this route this 12 months, which meant that he discovered it onerous to even make it to the end in final weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
Withstanding the warmth exuded from the bike for 19 laps in a crash-shortened race, the Spaniard got here away with simply three championship factors as he benefited from incidents additional up the pack.
Talking afterwards, the 35-year-old revealed that the problems not solely compromised his personal efficiency at Sepang, but additionally meant that the bike was operating down on energy.
“It was very robust,” he described. “I knew that in a majority of these races [where] it is vitally, very popular, this can be very troublesome for us. And much more when you begin that far on the grid, it has been an actual nightmare.
“The engine was actually sluggish, I could not overtake anyone. The engine was very, very sluggish as a result of warmth.
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures
“I used to be [only] in a position to overtake Raul. Then I suffered loads the final three laps the place I nearly couldn’t make it to the tip, I couldn’t deal with the handlebar. The warmth was wonderful.
“I burned my fingers and needed to open my visor. The warmth is the Achilles heel of this bike.”
Espargaro wasn’t the one Aprilia rider to complain about warmth points on a sizzling and sunny day in Malaysia.
Using a 2024 RS-GP with final 12 months’s engine, Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez additionally felt the consequences of the bike in Malaysia as he desperately tried to get some air blown onto him on Sepang’s lengthy straights.
“Tremendous troublesome to handle with the temperature on the bike. The final 4 laps I used to be completed. I attempted to finish the race [out of] respect to the staff, respect for all my mechanics,” he mentioned.
“The final 4 laps I couldn’t stay on the bike. All of the straight I had my head out of the bike to take some air. It is rather troublesome particularly when you may have slipstream you don’t take air.
“I do not really feel the hand, I do not really feel the foot. I could not take the air. It’s protected however it’s actually troublesome.”
Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures
Vinales wasn’t impacted as severely by an overheating bike as Espargaro and Fernandez, ending a comparatively sturdy seventh between the Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins.
However the 29-year-old spent a lot of the race in clear air, with Quartararo circulating a number of seconds forward of him in sixth.