Aleix Espargaró: "Everything is open and I still believe in my options"

   MADRID, 29 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish MotoGP rider, Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), was confident this Thursday with his options to become world champion despite being 25 points behind the leader Fabio Qartararo (Yamaha), as he pointed out that "everything is still open ".

"In the past, the championship leader on a very bad day could finish second, third or fourth, but now if you have a bad day you can end up outside the top 10, so it's all open and I still believe in my chances," he said. Espargaró at the press conference prior to the Thai GP.

Aleix Espargaró, who did not score points in Japan last weekend, confessed that he was "annoyed after the race, not only because of the mistake but because of how the race went". "It's very strange that the first and second in the championship are fighting for eighth place, Fabio (Quartararo) and 'Pecco' (Bagnaia) go super fast on all the circuits," he commented.

Espargaró acknowledged that "it was curious to see them fight for eighth place", in what "would have been a great opportunity to cut points". "We'll never know, if it hadn't been for the mistake we wouldn't know exactly where we could have finished in the race, but 25 points isn't that many, the level of MotoGP right now is very high," he pointed out.

The Spanish driver ended the weekend "pretty sad", although "not angry about what happened on Sunday". "I went to Tokyo on Monday and had dinner with my team and everyone. I love each and every member of the team and they were even more disappointed than me," he explained.

The rider from Aprilia, third in the championship, assures that he will try "to recover the points" in Thailand. "I am the leader of this team, and I said, 'come on, head up, anyone can make a mistake.' Now there is a new scenario for us and when something new comes along there are always positive elements," he said.

Aleix Espargaró clarified that after speaking "internally" he is sure that the problem in Japan "will never happen again". "We use this bug to reanalyze everything, to try to improve all the procedures and see where we can improve," he said.

"It's not as simple as the problem seemed, so my whole team was very dejected, and what I basically tried to do is tell them 'it's a human error, it can happen, the competition is like that'. Let's forget it and with a positive mentality for next weekend," he stressed.

Now the competition returns to the Chang International Circuit, in Buriram, for the Thai GP, which had not been held since before the pandemic. "I don't remember 2019, but in 2019 I didn't like any circuit," joked the Spaniard.

Espargaró explained that "this year's bike is another story" and he hopes to be able to "ride in the dry". "In any case, if it is in the wet, I was quite fast in Japan, surprisingly fast in the rain, so even if it is in the wet I think it can be an opportunity, because when there is a race in the rain, very strange things can happen," he predicted. .

For the Spaniard, the weather is a greater or lesser problem "it depends on the circuit". "In Japan, for example, the 'quali' was not so easy because it slipped a lot. But in terms of the conditions of the surface and the grip, the conditions have improved a lot, the angle of inclination is crazy," he concluded.