The French Grand Prix did not go particularly well for Alex Escrig at the Circuit Bugatti. The rider from Puçol had a difficult weekend right from Friday, failing to secure direct entry into Q2. From the very first practice sessions, the ‘Samurai’ struggled to find confidence on a track where he had virtually no previous experience, and he was also unable to get to grips with the bike’s handling. “We found it very difficult to adapt from the start and we couldn’t find a way to be competitive,” admitted Alex after the weekend was over.
Saturday also failed to bring the expected improvement for Escrig, who finished the qualifying session in 20th place. Throughout the day, the team worked hard on various set-up changes in an attempt to close the gap on the leading group, although the Valencian rider continued to struggle. “The bike didn’t quite work as we’d hoped and, although we tried different solutions, we couldn’t take that step forward we needed to get further up the order,” explained the rider from Puçol, visibly self-critical after the French round.
In Sunday’s race, Alex crossed the finish line in 20th place in a Grand Prix marked by difficulties in maintaining a competitive pace. Despite the result, the Valencian chose to focus on the lessons learnt from a weekend that was different from previous ones. “It’s the first time this season that we haven’t really been competitive, and now we need to analyse everything thoroughly to understand what went wrong and how to improve ahead of the upcoming races,” said the Samurai.
Following the Le Mans race, Escrig sits in tenth place in the overall Moto2 World Championship standings, having remained in the top 10 thanks to his consistent form at the start of the season. Now, the Valencian rider’s focus is firmly on the next round of the calendar. “We need to put this behind us and start thinking about Barcelona,” concluded Alex, determined to regain his form as soon as possible.