Aleix Espargaro reckons that he and Aprilia had “the speed to fight for victory” in the Australian Grand Prix, though tyre woes ultimately stunted his charge.
The Spaniard ran well within the top five during the 25-lap contest having started fourth, Espargaro looking good to challenge for a podium place or potentially even a victory as he remained well in range of the lead.
His attack would ultimately come to nothing though after hitting tyre trouble in the closing stages of the encounter, Espargaro explaining that the traction control system on his RS-GP “started to cut so much power” as a result of his failing rubber, facilitating a fall to ninth by the time he took the chequered flag.
The one-time premier class race winner conceded that his late problems were “annoying” having felt prior to the event that he would have had the pace to “fight for victory.”
“I did a good start and felt good, I thought I had the speed to fight for the podium but suddenly in the mid-part of the race the traction control started to cut so much power,” explained Espargaro.
“I couldn’t accelerate or go forwards and it was so frustrating because I lost a lot of ground under acceleration that I couldn’t recover under brakes, it was impossible to do anything from then on and I couldn’t stay with the front group.
“We had the same tyres as most of the front group so I guess it is a problem from our side, we have to understand what happened because Maverick (Vinales) had the exact same issue so it was annoying because I feel we had the speed to fight for victory today and we couldn’t take profit from it.”
Espargaro added that his chances of securing a first MotoGP world championship for he and Aprilia was now looking “difficult” having slipped to 27 points adrift of new series lead Francesco Bagnaia with only 50 left to claim across the final two races of the year.
“He (Quartararo) made a mistake and crashed and we didn’t really take advantage of it, and Pecco (Bagnaia) got a podium so now we are a bit far, it’s still possible but it’ll be difficult,” continued Espargaro.
“I’m still very proud to arrive at the last two races still with a chance at the title, it’s unbelievable but it’ll be trickier than before because with Pecco and Ducati’s form and a one race advantage (of points) it won’t be easy, but everything can happen so we’ll keep fighting.”
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