---
title: "Espargaro concerned about brake management at Motegi"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/10/15/espargaro-concerned-brake-management-motegi/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2016-10-15T13:30:11Z"
modified: "2016-10-15T13:33:41Z"
---

# Espargaro concerned about brake management at Motegi

Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro will start tomorrow’s 24-lap Japanese Grand Prix from sixth on the grid, a result he is happy with but also one he felt could have been much better.

The Spaniard has looked strong all weekend, finishing all sessions inside the top seven. Espargaro easily bagged himself a spot inside QP2 this morning after going sixth fastest in FP3. In the final free practice, Espargaro put in a solid run on worn rubber, the lap times slightly quicker than what even he was expecting.

He has hoped to be a factor in the fight for the front row, but a small error in the first sector of his final flying lap cost him dearly and he had to settle for the second row instead with a 1m44.494s.

Though not quite in the position he had hoped, Espargaro was still left feeling pleased at the fact that he improved on his 2015 qualifying time by over half a second and did out-pace his teammate Maverick Vinales in seventh. The Spaniard says that he has already made his choice regarding his rear tyre compound for the race, but still needs to evaluate which of the front options he wants to use.

One thing that is concerning Espargaro is his front brake. The Spaniard is a heavy rider and Motegi is very demanding on brakes – it’s the only circuit on the calendar where the 340mm discs are made mandatory. Because of his weight, Espargaro is worried about overheating his brakes, something that led to a massive crash in the 2012 race for him. He’ll be looking to get away well when the lights go out tomorrow and try to get into some clean air in order to manage the temperature of his brakes as best as possible.

“I’m happy for the whole weekend in general, to be honest I was expecting a little better for the chrono, I hoped to fight for the first row, but I made a little mistake in sector one and this affected my fast-lap attempt,” Espargaro explained.

“But, while the pole was slower than last year, from my side I improved my last year’s time by nearly half a second and this makes me very happy. The pace in FP4 was very good, even a couple of tenths better than what we expected, so I’m happy. We have already decided the rear tyre, while we still have some doubts about the front one, we will have to check some other solutions tomorrow and then take our decision.

“Also the brake management will be crucial for the race; this circuit has some very hard braking, this means that the brakes get hot very quickly and for me this is an issue. I’m a heavy rider, so this problem is more evident to me than to other riders, meaning that I will need to manage the brake temperature trying to have a clear line in front of me so to allow much air to intake and cool down the braking system.”