MotoGP 2022 outside championship bet Aleix Espargaro believes he has a good chance of victory this weekend at the Australian Grand Prix – and that a win at Phillip Island is nothing less than absolutely essential if he’s to have any chance of closing down the two men ahead of him in the title fight.
The Aprilia rider currently sits 18 points behind closest rival Pecco Bagnaia, with the Ducati racer in turn only two points behind reigning champion and championship leader Fabio Quartararo – and with only 75 points remaining to play for in the final three races, Espargaro knows that the pressure is well and truly on if he’s to go to the final round in Valencia with even a fighting chance of success.
There’s even more impetus on that given that he’s had two difficult races in the past two rounds of the championship, with a technical problem in Motegi and then contact with another rider in Buriram leaving him far from where he wanted to be – and in a desperate race to claw back some points on the leaders.
“I felt again after two difficult tracks for me,” he explained to The Race, “with a normal tyre [compared to the stiffer slick in Buriram] and on a fast track, more normal again. I felt like I could fight on top again, so I’m happy.
“In Thailand I worked very hard to find the speed. Japan wasn’t so bad, but in Thailand I worked so hard. I tried two totally different bikes, I changed too much, and even though we improved a little I was never more than top eight, top 1o.
“Win. That’s what I need to do. 20 points seems not so much, but when the reality is that you’re against Pecco and Fabio with only three races, 20 points is quite a lot. I need to win if I’m to fight for the title.”
Right now, though, after only a single day of practice at Phillip Island, the Spaniard is confident that at least for now he’s got the pace needed to win – and bullish about how he stacked up relative to Bagnaia, Quartararo and even-more-outside title bet and home hero Jack Miller.
“Today I didn’t ride with the hard front because it was too cold,” he explained, “but with the soft front I suffered a lot. And even like this I was quite fast. So hopefully tomorrow with a better condition, when it looks like it will be more warm, hopefully I’ll be able to use the hard front and to make one step.
“We have to wait and see, because today was easy to make a mistake and have a big crash. I think everyone was quite relaxed today; relaxed is maybe not the right word here in Phillip Island. But we have to wait and see. I think the three rear tyres can [all] be raceable so this will make another difference. We have to wait and see, but my pace is strong.
“Fabio’s pace is not better than mine, Pecco’s is not really, he’s not on his best circuit for the moment, and Jack neither.”
But while Quartararo so far sounds quietly content with his own progress on the opening day, Bagnaia was perhaps surprisingly happy with his own result despite ending up eighth on combined times.
Perhaps at something of a disadvantage for the first time in months as he heads into a race weekend that has been punishing for Ducati riders in the past, he was insistent that dispute a tough start to the day it’s only his one-lap speed and not his race pace that let him down in the end.
“Not easy,” he conceded. “This morning, I was struggling with the wind, and then we did something that helped me a lot in the second and third exits, and I improved my pace a lot, and was quite happy. This afternoon, the wind was quite worse, and maybe for my setting or my riding style, I was struggling a bit.
“We did another step in front in the third exit, made another step, and I’m quite happy, but in the time attack we didn’t do a very good laptime.
“It’s true that I’m quite happy with the feeling that we had in the last part of FP2, before putting in new tyres, but not so happy for the time attack. But we already know where to improve and this is something that can help us.”
