Marco Bezzecchi
Fermin Aldeguer has shown steady signs of improvement during his rookie MotoGP season with Gresini.
The Spaniard finished a career-high fifth at the Grand Prix of Qatar and managed to finish ahead of teammate Alex Marquez in a race for the first time.
Aldeguer’s pace appears to have grown with every event. His confidence is building and he is slowly adjusting to the Ducati bike he rides.
Gresini are benefitting from having one of the most dominant MotoGP bikes of all time at their disposal, helping them to sit level in second with VR46 in the teams’ standings.
Aldeguer is using Marc Marquez’s data in a bid to improve and learn from one of the greatest to grace the tarmac in the premier class.
Despite the encouraging signs, Aldeguer admitted Gresini had one problem which had hit their morale. They began to suffer from some slight vibration issues in Qatar.
READ MORE: Fermin Aldeguer is struggling with MotoGP habit costing Gresini ‘too much’ at the Qatar Grand Prix
Luigi Dall’Igna told Fermin Aldeguer not to worry about finishing last during rookie MotoGP campaign
Although the gap between Aldeguer and his teammate appeared daunting at the start of the campaign, he has since managed to reduce his deficit.
Aldeguer ‘didn’t expect’ Marquez’s pace as he managed to find his way into the championship lead after the third round at COTA.
However, he has now revealed to Speedweek that Ducati engineer Luigi Dall’Igna has told him not to worry about results during his first season in the big league.
“He still tells me that. He tells me to take my time in the first half of the season, that I can be the last in all races, that I should study,” he said. “What he expects are stable, progressive results, not ups and downs.
“And so it is. Maybe it’s not the end result, because there were some ups and downs, but in terms of speed I improved with each GP.”
What could be deemed a success for Fermin Aldeguer’s rookie MotoGP season?
After showing some really impressive pace in Qatar, there’s a good chance that replicating that sort of form often would give Aldeguer a shot at multiple podium finishes.
Now that he’s up to 14th in the riders’ standings with 20 points, it’s entirely possible that he can snowball his momentum into some even bigger results and get into the top 10.
Aldeguer admits Ai Ogura surprised him after seeing how much of an impact that Japanese rookie has been able to make on Trackhouse.
His performances are the sort of thing that the 20-year-old at Gresini wants to replicate in a bid to make more of a name for himself. It’s very possible.
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