MotoGP Jerez: Aleix Espargaro: ‘I don’t know what Marc Marquez is doing’

An eventful Friday MotoGP practice for Marc Marquez ended with Aleix Espargaro waving furiously at the eight-time world champion to pass.
Aleix Espargaro, Spanish MotoGP, 29 April
Aleix Espargaro, Spanish MotoGP, 29 April

Earlier in the afternoon session, a slow-moving Marquez had upset Repsol Honda team-mate 💮Pol Espargaro and rookie Remy Gardner into the last corner of the Jerez track.

“I was behind somebody that wanted to slow down to go into the box, then when I knew Pol and [Remy] ൩were coming behind me, I tried to stay o🅷ut of the line but there was some confusion,” Marquez said.

Marquez went on to suff💎er a d🧜ouble fall during the middle stages, before ending the ses൩sion in 19th place and with Apri🔴lia’s Aleix Espargaro giving him a visual 'hurry up' to stop following.

“It looks like I’m always cr♈ying about this, but it’s unbelievable. I don’t know what this guy is doing,” Espargaro said. “Everybody saw it. My brother almost crashed in T13. Then Gardner. Then Oliveira [when Marquez was returning to the pits after his first fall,𒁏 and fell again].

“Then with me. I went out on track and there was nobody in pitlane. I went onto the back straight and ther💙e was nobody there. And he was stopping in the middle of the back straight, waiting for me for one minute. Unbelievable!

“I say ‘go, go, go’. And he doesn’t c♕are. He looks behind. It’s just unbelievable. I will not blame him, but I will blame the people in Race Direction. He can do whatever he wants and no one says anything to him.

“People all the time say, ‘Moto3, Moto3, Moto3’ [has a problem with slow riding]. MotoG🐓P is worse! What are they doing?”

Aleix Espargaro, Spanish MotoGP, 29 April
Aleix Espargaro, Spanish MotoGP, 29 April

Marc Marquez: ‘This is normal for Aleix’

Marc Marquez sh⛎rugged off the incident, insisting riders chasing a tow fr🐼om faster competitors is part of racing and that he has been the target many times in the past.

“This is normal with Aleix. This is motorcycling. Aleix always complains. If this year he is fast then he needs to be proud we are looking for his slipstream!” Marquez said. “Normally♋ it was alway🃏s the opposite.

“This year I am looking for his slipstream because he is third in the cha🦋mpionship, he is riding very good and MotoGP is like this. You are looking for the fast riders to make the lap. In this case I was just finishing the practice because I was riding with a bike I don’t like and I didn’t try to follow anybody.”

Distracted by the ☂incident, Espargaro slipped from fourth in the morning session to 13th place in the afternoon.

“For sure 13th is not good. but I had a couple of problems with the soft tyre, traffic and also chattering,” Espargaro said. “I couldn’t set a fast lap time. But I’m not worried. I’ve been very fasꦛt with the medium rear, the race tyre. I was leading the session for a long time. So no problem, 💖no stress.

“Also here in Jerez the fast lap times will come tomorrow mornin🐠g in FP3. Let’s see.”

Espargaro and Ma൲rquez join the likes of Johann Zarco and Joan Mir in being outside the current top ten for direct acඣcess to Qualifying 2.

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