Despite having experienced a bad start with clutch problems on his Aprilia, Aleix Espargaró managed to climb into the honor roll led by Sunday’s leader, Fabio Quartararo.
After a battle for the podium against Johann Zarco, Aleix Espargaró scores one more podium in his locker.
“It has been a difficult race, really, one of the most this year”, introduced the pilot after concluding the test.
“I tried to come back as fast as possible, I started hunting down my rivals, except for Fabio [Quartararo], who was on another planet.”
The Spanish driver assures that “he has given everything” in one of the most complicated tests of his career.
“I benefited from the fall [between Joan Mir and Jack Miller] even though I had a good rhythm.”
“I thought I was ready to fight for second place and attack [Johann] Zarco, but I was left without a rear tire and without traction, especially in some corners,” lamented the Spanish driver.
Aleix Espargaró had limitations when meeting Alex Márquez’s satellite Honda, and the Aprilia rider did not hesitate to comment on it.
“I lost a lot of time with Alex [Márquez],” Espargaró said. “This wastes our time and I think it’s not necessary, especially in competitions like this.”
“I don’t understand these types of driving very well, they make me quite unhinged,” he added. “After Indonesia, he did the same thing again and I lost a lot of time.”
However, the rider from Granollers assures that he is “delighted with the podium” and fighting against the best”.
“I’m enjoying it a lot, I should be nervous, but I’m very relaxed,” assured the man from Granollers.
“I’ll try to keep my feet on the ground and focused, the Aprilia pairing works very well this year and we have to take advantage of it,” stressed Espargaró, who is currently third in the championship standings, behind Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo.
MotoGP race results at the 2022 Portuguese GP
| Cla | # | Pilot | Motorcycle | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Km/h | Abandonment | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 |  Fabio Quartararo |
 |
Yamaha | 25 | – | 25 | |||||
| 2 | 5 | Johann Zarco |
 |
Ducati | 25 | 5.409 | 5.409 | 5.409 | 20 | |||
| 3 | 41 |  Aleix Espargaró |
 |
April | 25 | 6,068 | 6,068 | 0.659 | 16 | |||
| 4 | 42 | Alex Rins |
 |
Suzuki | 25 | 9.633 | 9.633 | 3.565 | 13 | |||
| 5 | 88 |  Miguel Oliveira |
 |
KTM | 25 | 13,573 | 13,573 | 3,940 | eleven | |||
| 6 | 93 | Marc Márquez |
 |
Sling | 25 | 16,163 | 16,163 | 2,590 | 10 | |||
| 7 | 73 | Alex Marquez |
 |
Sling | 25 | 16,183 | 16,183 | 0.020 | 9 | |||
| 8 | 63 |  Pecco Bagnaia |
 |
Ducati | 25 | 16.511 | 16.511 | 0.328 | 8 | |||
| 9 | 44 | Pol Espargaro |
 |
Sling | 25 | 16,769 | 16,769 | 0.258 | 7 | |||
| 10 | 12 | Maverick Viñales |
 |
Aprilia | 25 | 18.063 | 18.063 | 1.294 | 6 | |||
| 11 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso |
 |
Yamaha | 25 | 29,029 | 29,029 | 10,966 | 5 | |||
| 12 | 10 | Luca Marini |
 |
Ducati | 25 | 29,249 | 29,249 | 0.220 | 4 | |||
| 13 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli |
 |
Yamaha | 25 | 33,354 | 33,354 | 4.105 | 3 | |||
| 14 | 87 |  Remy Gardner |
 |
KTM | 25 | 40.205 | 40.205 | 6.851 | 2 | |||
| 15 | 72 | Marco Bezzecchi |
 |
Ducati | 25 | 46,052 | 46,052 | 5,847 | 1 | |||
| 16 | 30 |  Takaaki Nakagami |
 |
Honda | 25 | 49,569 | 49,569 | 3,517 | ||||
| 17 | 40 |  Darryn Binder |
 |
Yamaha | 25 | 50.303 | 50.303 | 0.734 | ||||
| dnf | 32 | Lorenzo Savadori |
 |
Aprilia | 24 | Abandonment | ||||||
| dnf | 49 | Fabio Di Giannantonio |
 |
Ducati | 21 | Abandonment | ||||||
| dnf | 36 | Joan Mir |
 |
suzuki | 18 | Abandonment | ||||||
| dnf | 43 | Jack Miller |
 |
Ducati | 18 | Abandonment | ||||||
| dnf | 33 | Brad Binder |
 |
KTM | 17 | Abandono | ||||||
| dnf | 23 | Enea Bastianini |
 |
Ducati | 9 | Abandonment | ||||||
| dnf | 89 | George Martin |
 |
Ducati | 4 | Abandonment |
