The winner of the Argentine race went from having a pole position and a victory at Termas de Río Hondo to finishing outside the top ten on the race weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.
Espargaró admitted that his accident in Q1 cut short his weekend, but his pace in FP4 seemed to promise a good race on Sunday. However, the Grenollers rider finished eleventh behind his teammate, Maverick Viñales.
Evaluating the weekend, Aleix admitted that he managed to learn something about the RS-GP at COTA, and that is that he believes that the bike “is capable of fighting for the top five in the championship”, but nothing that is done to the motorcycle in the United States “will be relevant for the future.
“I know it won’t sound like a very smart comment, but from the first lap of FP1 to the last lap [of the race] I want to forget everything that happened.
“I want to remove the changes we applied to the bike and go to a normal track.”
“This track is not normal, the ups and downs, nothing suits our bike, it doesn’t suit us and we are lucky that it is the only circuit on the calendar like this.
With these bases, the Aprilia rider prefers to set his sights on the European phase of the season.
“I think if I managed to finish 10 seconds away [from victory], it means we have a chance of fighting for the top five in the championship and I can’t wait to go to Portimao and Jerez.”
Espargaró claims that his grip problems in the COTA race were due to the tires and a lack of grip.
“Honestly, I made a huge mistake [in qualifying],” he told Autosport when asked what caused his rear grip issues. “When you go from Q1 to Q2, they give you an extra rear tyre.
“So, I told my teammates an hour before qualifying to connect the race tire to the [tyre] warmers because I was sure I could go to Q2.
“I failed and I fell. It was my fault because it was my decision, not the team’s and it was the first time we did this and I will not repeat it,” he said.
