Espargaro calls for more power from Suzuki

Aleix Espargaro faded to the lower reaches of the open in Assen after a difficult race for the front row starter. Despite entering the first corner in second place Espargaro was unable to offer anything more than token resistance to the front runners. Speaking afterwards the Spaniard once again explained that the lack of power is holding back Suzuki.

“It was a very frustrating race,” said Espargaro. “I started well and I tried to push and to follow Iannone, I felt really good with the bike and the pace was good, but then Dovi overtook me on the straight. Then Pedrosa also came past and I overtook them again but on every straight, they overtook me.

“It’s really frustrating, I was really angry inside my helmet. But this is what we have, I push, I do my best, but in the middle of the race I understand that I had to relax and finish, because it was impossible. Every time I was taking risks on the brakes because they overtook me on the straight. This is the maximum we could take from the race. The last part of the race I was really slow, I just finish and take points.”

Suzuki brought their uprated engine to Catalunya and have no plans to bring another uprated motor to races this year however with Espargaro and Vinales bringing a knife to a gunfight both riders will be pushing for improvements.

When Espargaro was asked if he expected things to be better in Germany he said that the feeling on the bike was good and with only one straight from a slow corner the track should suit him more.

“The setting of the bike was really good, especially after the negative FP1 we had. We improved the bike a lot. I felt really good today in the race. So for Germany because there is just one straight, maybe we lose a little bit less. I feel great with the bike in the corners, I can brake better than everybody, and the turning is really good. But as I say, we were less than 300 km/h in the straight, and the others were 310, 315 km/h. So, very difficult.”