Alex Escrig’s performance at the Catalan Grand Prix left the Puçol rider with mixed feelings of excitement and disappointment. The ‘Samurai’ kicked off the weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya by showing a very solid pace right from the start. On Friday, he secured an impressive third place in FP1 and went on to finish the session in sixth, thereby securing direct entry into Q2 and confirming the positive feelings about his Moto2 bike on one of the most special tracks on the calendar.
On Saturday, Escrig remained competitive in FP2 with another sixth-place finish, bolstering his hopes of fighting for the top positions. However, qualifying ended up being a major setback for Alex. As he was improving his lap times on his final flying lap, he crashed, preventing him from setting a time and relegating him to 18th on the grid. “It was a weekend that started very positively; I felt great on the bike, and I think we were at a level where we could have been fighting for podium places, but it’s a shame about the crash in qualifying because I suffered a torn muscle in my left calf,” explained the rider from Puçol after the Grand Prix.
The injury sustained in that crash completely overshadowed Sunday’s race. In the end, Alex was unable to take part in the Catalan race due to the discomfort caused by the torn muscle fibre in his left calf, bringing an early end to a weekend that had promised great results. “That meant I couldn’t race. I’m quite frustrated because it was a lovely, exciting weekend,” admitted Escrig, who was also competing at Montmeló wearing a special helmet designed in collaboration with the Xana Foundation, a partnership of great significance to the Valencian rider.
Despite the outcome, the work carried out throughout the weekend has yielded positive results for Alex and his team. The Spanish rider demonstrated the pace to compete with the best in Moto2 and continues to establish himself among the category’s leading names. Currently, the Samurai sits in tenth place in the overall championship standings and remains confident ahead of the upcoming rounds of the World Championship. “We have to keep fighting because it will come in the end; we’re doing a very good job,” concluded Escrig after a Catalan GP that was as promising as it was cruel.