'Emotional' weekend for Aleix Espargaro

"It will be a special and emotional weekend for me because it is the end of an important era in my life" - Aleix Espargaro.

Peter McLaren

05 Nov 2013

Aleix Espargaro, Japanese MotoGP 2013
© Gold and Goose

The only champion of the CRT MotoGP class, Aleix Espargaro will bid farewell to the Aspar team after Sunday's Valencia finale.

A Pramac Ducati rider in 2010, Espargaro dropped down to Moto2 before signing to ride the Aspar-run ART in the new privateer MotoGP category.

The Spaniard has boosted his reputation by dominating the class for the past two seasons, and will move to the new Forward Racing Yamaha project for 2014.

"I am really looking forward to racing at home this weekend. It will be a special and emotional weekend for me because it is the end of an important era in my life, being my final race with the Power Electronics Aspar Team," he said.

"I really want to say goodbye to the team with the best possible result. The bike has given us some great results over the past two years so hopefully we can produce one more.

"Even though we tied up the CRT championship already in Australia we have gone two races without a [class] win now for one reason or another so the objective is clear: we want to win this one and finish the season with a smile.

"It is quite a tight circuit and I think that should suit us so we will be doing everything we can to make the most of our advantage and score a top result."

Nicky Hayden is confirmed as joining the new Aspar Honda project, with his team-mate yet to be announced. Hiroshi Aoyama is tipped to get the second seat, but Espargaro's present team-mate Randy de Puniet has not yet been officially ruled out.

The Frenchman, who has been combining his Aspar race duties with Suzuki development work, heads to Valencia with a real chance of taking second in the CRT standings from Colin Edwards.

"I really like Valencia and it has been a good circuit for me in the past," said de Puniet. "We are in good form, my feeling with the bike over the past two races has been good and I hope this continues through to this Sunday.

"If we keep working in the same way we have recently then I am sure we can end the season with a good result, which is important. Normally I prefer faster circuits but there are some sections of this track that I really like and I am sure our bike will adapt well.

"The objective is to finish the races as the top CRT and hopefully score four more points than Colin Edwards to finish ahead of him as runner-up in the CRT championship."