After the accident between Aleix Espargaro and Johann Zarco in Jerez, things get heated in the race stewards’ office – Zarco doesn’t mince his words
Accident between Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) in the Sito Pons corner on the tenth lap of the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. It was the duel for 16th place. Espargaro was behind the Frenchman, pulled to the inside and crashed. In the process, he also dragged Zarco into the gravel
What had happened? “I had a problem with the clutch and a very, very bad start,” reported Espargaro. “I lost a lot of positions. Then Morbidelli touched me several times, Johann too.”
“I tried to make up positions, but in turn 5 the front wheel locked up completely. I crashed and my bike hit Johann twice. It’s a shame that the weekend ended like that.” Because Espargaro also crashed out in the sprint.
After the race, both had to appear before the race stewards. There the waters ran high. “Not competent,” Zarco grumbled about Freddie Spencer, the chairman of the race stewards. “Someone else needs to be appointed to this position.”
“He doesn’t make the right decisions. Maybe he’s too passionate and that influences which riders he penalizes and which he doesn’t,” Zarco says. Things got heated in the race management office.
“Aleix said to me: ‘But you’ve already touched me three times before’. But I didn’t. We had a few overtaking maneuvers, it was a great duel. It’s normal that we don’t agree on some things.”
While watching the video footage of the accident, Zarco and Espargaro discussed the situation. “Freddie was watching us,” reports Zarco. “I asked him what I should say?”
“What should I complain about and ask for a penalty? Should I say that he should be punished? I don’t care, it doesn’t change my life. Let him do what he has to do. He didn’t penalize Binder in the sprint, so there was already a problem there.”
“Aleix has agreed. I said to Freddie: ‘Never mind, I don’t like you and you’re not doing your job properly. You can do what you want.’ And then they sent me out. There are people who do their job very well. “
“But he’s the one who makes the decisions. And that’s not good,” Zarco emphasizes his opinion. “The action ended in a crash in a fast corner. The most important thing is that nobody got hurt.”
And what does Espargaro say? “I was very unhappy. I said to Johann that he should have more respect because we were in 16th place and he touched me three or four times. He said that he rides like that and overtakes like that.”
“Okay, I don’t ride like that. That’s why I locked the front wheel to prevent the contact and crashed. It would have been easier if I had touched him in that corner. We saw on Saturday that there is no penalty for that.”
“But I don’t ride like that,” says Espargaro. “I blocked the front wheel to avoid contact. I said that to Johann. He said that he understood me. But then Johann was really angry with the race stewards because of other actions in the sprint.”
“He didn’t hide his emotions. I was not on Johann’s side. I’m not happy with this situation. This situation could have been handled much better. I went out with him to help him. I can understand Johann. “
By this, the Spaniard means that he can understand Zarco’s anger in principle. In the end, the race stewards came to the conclusion that it was a racing accident. No penalty was imposed.
“I don’t care whether they impose a penalty or not. It doesn’t change my life,” repeated Zarco. “I don’t want to complain and I don’t want to complain about Aleix, even though there are other problems and he is complaining about me.”
“I said to him that we don’t see eye to eye. He can do what he wants. It’s Aleix. But that doesn’t change the fact that the people making these decisions aren’t doing it right. “
