Aleix matches KTMs on final day at Misano

The third and final day of private MotoGP testing at Misano this week saw Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro match the fastest lap of the week.

KTM had been quickest on the opening two days courtesy of a 1m 32.9s set by Pol Espargaro (who qualified second at Misano last season) and then Miguel Oliveira, but both the factory and Tech3 teams concluded testing on Wednesday.

Peter McLaren

25 Jun 2020

Aleix matches KTMs on final day at Misano

The third and final day of private MotoGP testing at Misano this week saw Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro match the fastest lap of the week.

In their absence, Aleix Espargaro continued his daily half-a-second progression to also join the 1m 32.9s club during the Thursday action.

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Test finito! Lot of work done, can't wait to be at Jerez and start racing! @aprilia
A post shared by Aleix 41 (@aleixespargaro) on Jun 25, 2020 at 9:22am PDT

Team-mate Bradley Smith, who will replace the currently suspended Andrea Iannone for at least the Jerez season-openers, found nearly 0.7s over his Wednesday best to clock a 1m 33.536s on the final day.

The official Misano pole and race lap records are 1m 31.629s and 1m 32.678s respectively, but new asphalt for 2020 means both are likely to fall in September's pair of back-to-back races.

While the Concession rules allowed Aprilia and KTM to bring their race riders this week, Ducati (Michele Pirro) and Suzuki (Sylvain Guintoli) were also on track with their test teams. Pirro set a 1m 30.0s on the final day.

MotoGP race riders from Honda, Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki are not expected to try their 2020 machines again until an Official test just before the new season-opener at Jerez, on July 15 - almost five months after the Qatar test.