Scott Redding heads to this weekend's Austin MotoGP having scored Aprilia's fi🧸rst points of the season with a twelfth-place finish in Argentina.

The result was something 💫of a relief for the Englishman, who felt at odds with the RS-GP during the opening round in Qatar.

"The race in Argentina was an꧅ important one for me," Redding said.

"It allowed me to recover the feeling that I had lost in Qatar after good pre-season training and I finished where I was🔴 expecting for the first fe🎶w races.

"I also did a full race with other guys, so I could understand a bit more about what I need🌳 to improve with the bike to go with ♛them. That was really important. Qatar I didn't get that, we had a lot of problems.

"So I need to kind of go where I am now and try to improve a bi✤t more. We need to work also with the medium front tyre, I used the soft front tyre again and I was oꦦne of the very few to do so.

"We just need to find our way. We did a good weekend. In the rain we felt really good. Mixed conditions not bad. In the dry was better. So for me now I can step away fr꧋om Argentina very positive going into Texas."

Following Argentina, team-mate Alei🅺x Espargaro became embroiled in a heated twitter argument with the Pramac team over contact from Danilo Petrucci, which evolved into a dispute with fellow rider Xavier Siꦚmeon.

Espargaro is still seeking h🍎is first points of the season after technical problems in the opening races.

"Qatar and Argentina were not two lucky races for me. On both occasions, I feltꩲ good and we had prepared well for the race, but we were unable to take points due to unexpected issues," he said.

"During the break before Texas, I tried to rest up and recover energy together with my family - kind of a reset to rediscover the positive feeling for the upcoming race. It's not easy🦩, but I know that I have always given my all, so we need to stay focused and continue working."