Another piece of the MotoGP puzzle fell into place yesterday, and another boost for the CRT rules aimed at getting more bikes on the grid. The Aspar team announced officially that they will be racing as a Claiming Rule Team in 2012, fielding riders Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro. The team is to use Aprilia engines in their MotoGP machines, though the press release makes no mention of which chassis they will use.
The announcement had been expected for some time. Aspar boss Jorge Martinez had made it clear he would be racing as a CRT entry at Phillip Island, the Spaniard calculating that he could race two CRT machine for the price of a satellite Ducati. The rider line up took longer to complete, but once the team added Toni Elias to the already-signed Moto2 duo of Nico Terol and Aleix Espargaro, it became evident that Espargaro was destined to move up to MotoGP on the CRT machine. Randy de Puniet's name was linked with the Aspar CRT ride after the Frenchman tested the Aprilia RSV4 on Bridgestone tires at Valencia and then later at Jerez. De Puniet set a lap of 1'41.5 on the Bridgestone-shod RSV4 at Jerez, 1.8 seconds slower than the time he set aboard the Pramac Ducati at Jerez back in April. That time may have convinced him that he had a chance of competing with some of the satellite riders as the 2012 season progresses.
No comments:
Post a Comment